Creativity Takes No Excuses

Sometimes when I am in need of writing inspiration or just want to fill my eyes with lovely things as a mental break from life, I browse Pinterest.  It’s rare that I fawn over a current fashion or save a recipe or ogle wedding/baby garb.  When I visit the time sucking website, the second worst time sucker next to Facebook, I look at artsy photos, portraits and things that take my breath and imagination away.  Sometimes I enjoy reading the quotes and browsing the funnies and on one such day stumbled on the enclosed photo, rules for creativity if you will.  These six basic principles are ones that think of often when I’m writing and at some point I’m sure most scribes do.  The following are my thoughts on each of them:

IF IT’S IMPORTANT ENOUGH, YOU’LL MAKE TIME FOR IT.

Any time I start a new poem or meet a new character I regard it with the utmost importance.  And, because it is my art, my passion, when something springs up before me I make sure to make time to do my work.  Whether it’s during a busy work day during the lulls, a quiet Saturday afternoon in a café or those few precious moments before bed, I make time.  I am just as guilty as the next guy of letting the real world and resistance get the best of me sometimes but because writing is my first love I always make the time to tend my wares.  Writing and exercise provide me with similar sensations in that while I’m flexing my physical or creative muscles and for a glorious spell after, I feel like a million bucks.  Other than a long slow meaningful kiss, little compares to the high.  In short, do your work.

IF YOU DON’T KNOWWHERE TO START, START ANYWHERE.

This was true of ‘Mute’. I mentioned before how the ending of the story, the visual came to me first, even before I knew Augustus at all.  It was a fascinating experience to essentially work backwards.  At first I was confounded by the idea that I knew how the story ended without even knowing the story or being acquainted with the characters.  It was fun, puzzling it all together, listening and building it paragraph by paragraph.  Often times I’d handwrite bits and then type them into the document in order.  So, if you have a flash, an idea, the end, the middle or anything else in between, hash it out and the rest will come.  Now that I’ve actually had that experience it won’t intimidate me like it has in the past.  Imagine all the stories I missed being able to tell because I ignored this rule.  Bummer.  Start anywhere, it will come.

IF YOU FEEL STUCK, ASK SOMEONE TO HELP YOU OUT.

I do this ALL the time.  If I’m stuck on a word or a phrase or a detail etc., I turn to my friends, my family and sometimes even strangers.  I’m sure folks are tired of my ‘writing question’ texts and Facebook status updates but their input and suggestions are invaluable especially when you are in a cerebral jam.  There have even been instances where I’ve been stuck and someone says a word or laughs a certain way and it opens the floodgates.  I don’t even have to ask for assistance, sometimes it’s just there, even before I need it.  Use your people; they are a wealth of knowledge, emotion, experience and persona.  Eavesdrop, observe and absorb.  They matter.

IF YOU’RE TIRED, TAKE A TIMED BREAK.

Stretching is vital to a writer’s health and well-being.  I know for me, I tend to get blocked when I’m working and I’m tired or agitated or have been sitting too long.  Get up from your workspace, stretch, yawn, make tea, take a walk, dance around to whatever music you have on if you’re like me and need music to write, take a cat nap, daydream, make a phone call.  Clearing the cobwebs is important and helps you to focus on the work you’re doing.  My writing space at home is jam packed with things to look at and I designed it that way on purpose.  When I need a pause or I’m stuck I’ll pace or dance around and browse the walls and shelves.  You’d be surprised what can come if you just shift your efforts for a few minutes and breathe.  I’ve done those manic writing sessions where I’ve started at say noon and looked up at 8pm and don’t remember a thing but I’ve got all this writing done.  They are wild and exhilarating but sometimes there’s something to be said for just going easy and taking your time and when you feel like you need a break, take one.  It’s good for your soul.  Writing is hard work.

IF YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO DO IT, TRY DOING WHAT YOU CAN.

I can apply this to so many things, grammar, structure, presenting details or historical facts, dates, times, eras.  If something comes to you and it’s not an area you are strong in or you know nothing about, do what you can keep typing or scribbling then go back and fill it in later.  Do what you can.  Whatever you do don’t stop, keep writing.  I do it all the time.  If I get stuck on a name or a phrase I’ll literally type name and bold it (name) so when I go back and start my edits, I know what I am missing.  I used to waste so much time hovering over the details but now I bold and keep on trucking.  I do what I can until I can do better.  It’s a tough thing to learn to do but I am doing much better with this principle now.  My ultimate goal is to tell the story, everything else can be tightened afterward.

IF YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN DO IT, YOU WILL.

I’ve always been a poet.  Prose was daunting.  I actually believe it was daunting because I believed I couldn’t do it.  I’d tried in the past and failed miserably.  It wasn’t because I was incapable of it; it was the belief, the self-talk that I couldn’t do it.  I know this to be true because when I started to believe I had the ability to relay a story they started coming so fast I could barely keep up.  Perhaps it came with age and maturity on my part.  Perhaps it came from experiencing heartbreak and in turn inheriting a new way to look at myself and listen to myself.  When your self-worth is tested you can learn a great deal about yourself and if you use pain as a positive, you can achieve anything.  I’m patient with myself now, I quell my creative fears with a calming voice, I feel differently, listen closer, see things I’ve never seen before.  Because my world is different, I am different, I am better and stronger.  When all of these things are in place and you believe in what you are doing, what you can do, amazing things happen.

Just believe.  Believe in yourself.  Believe in creativity.  Believe in the movement of inspiration and pay attention to the world around you.  You are capable of greatness.  We all are.  Do your work.  Love yourself and your fellow man.  Believe.

In propinquity,

Nic