Lessons from Creatives Who Dared: Shel Silverstein's Invitation
And the Lifelong Evolution of His Voice
When I was a child, I listened to Shel Silverstein recite Invitation more times than I can count. In fact, I flipped that cassette tape of him reading many of his classic poems over and over again as I played with my toys. I LOVED it.
I was hearing his voice on the tape, reading his voice in his books, and seeing his voice in the form of brilliant doodles that danced across the pages.
And that voice stuck with me.
Shel Silverstein was a creative force, funny, irreverent, wise, and wildly imaginative. As a child I laughed at Boa Constrictor. As an adult I know the true meaning of Where the Sidewalk Ends.
That’s the thing about real creative voice: it transcends category.
What most people don’t know is that Shel didn’t start out as a beloved children’s poet. He began as a cartoonist and foreign correspondent for Playboy. He spent time at the mansion. He drew witty, adult humor comics. He wrote bawdy songs.
And then he wrote The Giving Tree.
That book was almost never published. People thought it was too short, too sad, too hard to categorize. (People still have all kinds of opinions about it today!) But Shel kept submitting it.
He believed in its truth and finally found someone who got it with editor Ursula Nordstrom. She understood Shel when he explained the ending of the story: “Because life, you know, has pretty sad endings.”
He didn’t force his work to fit the market.
He trusted his voice, even as it evolved.
Shel Silverstein reminds me:
Don’t pigeonhole yourself.
Don’t get too attached to one title, one identity, one “brand.”
Let your voice grow as you do.
Create what’s true now.
And trust that it matters.
★ Creative Challenge ★ Write your own version of Invitation. Who are you inviting in? What kind of creative life are you calling others into? What kind of creative life are you calling yourself into?
🎤 Ready to Explore Your Voice?
If Shel’s story stirred something in you, consider this your invitation: Vision to Voice is a 2-week speaking journey for creatives who want to share their truth, in their own way.
It ends with a creative spin on a PechaKucha night in Cincinnati where you can speak through words, images, art, or something uniquely yours!
✨ Learn more + register here →
We’d love to have you with us!
To our creative revolution and evolution!
