Jeffrey Elefanté

There has been a noticeable increase in Jeffrey activity in the past few weeks.  It is only in the past month or so that he now has an Instagram, a Twitter account, a Facebook page and this website. A few friends have asked “Why now”?

In truth, this has always been at the back of my head, but perhaps more as a hobby or a pastime or a pipe-dream.  What it (and I) needed was a catalyst.  My catalyst came in the form of a pop-up ceramics shop in a fishmongers.  Not entirely as random as it sounds, as a couple of friends were building their business around their own talent and creativity in the world of ceramics. As for the fishmongers… well why not? If you are interested in such things please check out their insanely brilliant work at Miles-Moore Ceramics.

I confess to not knowing much about such things as art or creative works, let alone the world of ceramics and pottery.  Suffice to say, I was blown away.  Not just because of the pieces they had created that lay before me, but how amazing it was that people who I knew had created something so wonderful and were making something of it. Whether it was your type of thing or not, I couldn’t help but be taken aback by what I was looking at.

After we left I text one of them simply saying: ‘You are truly an inspiration’.  I couldn’t have put it anymore succinctly.  It was the catalyst I needed and my brain had gone into overdrive.  It took a while for it to sink in, that you could create something and, assuming there was a market for it, make it your life, your career, your work. We all see so called entrepreneurs either on the news or certain reality TV shows making a business for themselves, but this tends to be very mainstream ‘business’ orientated. Plenty of us will have been to a craft fair or Christmas market or two and have seen people selling products they have made themselves, but I had never put it into real terms.  I have always had a job/career where I work for a company, I do some work, and that company magically pays me at the end of each month from an unseen pool of money that they have.  The concept of starting a business, or selling something created by (and therefore very personal to) an individual was completely alien to me. But these were real people making and selling something they love. To see it first hand, from beloved friends, was nothing short of a privilege.

I am in no way suggesting what I am writing is even close to comparable to my friends ridiculously stunning pieces of work.  I have no idea if I have any writing ability, or how that writing is, or will be, read by others. What I am enjoying is having the veil lifted that I can write whatever and however I want.  It doesn’t have to be for a specific audience – I get to write what I feel or just how it is, and I get to escape and take pleasure in that.  If something comes of it, if one person, one day, purchases one of the books, I would be so very happy.  But if that day never comes, I still get to write, I still get to continue to build the world of Jeffrey Elefanté. What my catalyst showed me is that it isn’t silly to take one’s creativity and/or idea seriously, and it is OK to believe in yourself.

So for now I continue to stir the simmering pot of ideas, slowly progressing towards the first initial goal of one person asking if they can buy a book (I promise this is not a shameless plug as I am nowhere near ready to take Jeff to market just yet).  Until then, Jeffrey will continue on his social media journey and I will continue being his ghost writer.

Thanks for reading, Jeff sends a wave.

W.G. Clark