Tag: Creativity

Blank

Yesterday, I finally received the news that my dear friend was out of danger and embarking on the long road to recovery. My brain, which up until that moment had been a flurry of worry, was able to empty itself of chaos. Unfortunately, it jettisoned everything else too.

I floated through the day until I reached bedtime and realised the hours I’d set aside to prepare today’s writing were gone and worse, I had no idea at all what to compose. Turning to my husband, I asked what I should do. ‘Write about writer’s block,’ he said and I thought, yes, I can do that.

It wasn’t until graduate school that I learned about composition and that it was more a craft than the romantic notion of inspiration set down on paper. There were ways to create creativity. There were games you could play; tasks you could set yourself that would make composition easier.

I sincerely wish I had learned this earlier, but I kept reading and acquiring this advice and passed it on to my own students.

Facing the blank page

I’m sure that we all remember the dread of facing a blank page days or hours before an essay or report was due. Most of us will find all sorts of jobs that need doing: sorting paperclips, making more coffee or tidying the bookshelves. Anything, anything is better than facing the wall of white that needs filling. This is as true for professional writers and artists as it is for the rest of us.

Facing the blank page
Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

But the professionals will find strategies to get them started. They are myriad, so I will only mention a couple that work for me here (and which I have employed to write this).

Be reassured: everyone finds creating hard at some time or other. (Occasionally, the gods smile on us and give us inspiration, but it is a gift to be enjoyed, not relied upon.)

So, how do we start?

Finding a way in

Most of us work best in a visual format, which is partly why writing is so hard. A great idea is to harness our visual skills with our writing ones. My preferred method is the spider plan, though you may prefer clouds or mapping.

Spider plans (add googly eyes if you wish) aid both with creative thinking and structure.

A spider has eight legs and often searching for ideas to fit those final one or two, prompts us to think of something a little more unusual. (Baby spiders drawn from one of the topics takes us deeper still). You can add more or less, but eight fully developed paragraphs is sufficient for most writing tasks.

A spider diagram
Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

My topic was the blank page and I just jotted down all my thoughts on that. Going clockwise, it works as a plan.

A blog requires images too, so I made those. I also put in the headings that I intended to use. The worst part was over – the post page was beginning to fill.

Getting into the habit

Few of us write much any more. We email, we text, we call. We seldom write structured letters or longer pieces, so when we do have to write, it is strange and hard.

Getting pen to paper
Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

Writing, like anything else, improves with practice and, as someone who was chronically afraid of writing, I have found the practice of it the thing that makes it now a pleasure. Each day, I try to keep my journal up to date. No-one but me will read it, so if it is gobbledygook, who cares? Occasionally, I might write something good. If nothing else, I have a record of my time on the planet.

Writing daily, whether it be in a journal or a more expansive email to a friend, allows us to keep our writing muscles strong. We are using and thinking about words and how they impact others. We listen for rhythms, for awkward phrasing and repetitions. We try to make our meaning clear and hopefully a little entertaining. We are considering our audience.

What holds true for writing is equally true for art. Artists too struggle to begin. They too must practise daily. Art students keep an art journal for their teachers; professionals create their own prompts.

The Internet is positively awash with art challenges. Perhaps you are asked to work in a particular medium every day or only use one colour or respond to a visual or verbal prompt. They are all ways in and an opportunity to be part of a community.

Or you can start with something random and just make a mark. I love curved lines, so that is what I began with. Then I added some simple branches – is it a leaf or a feather?

Start to play

And once those initial lines are in, I’m hooked. What if I added lots of colour in stripes? What if I added coloured patterns instead? In a few minutes, I’ve initiated my curiosity and more importantly, the desire to continue.

Since my blog was needing to be written, I had to stop there. But if I have time later today, I might work on them further. And even though they are just playful doodles, they are illustrating how colour works together, how certain patterns sing. When you create something, you inevitably learn something too.

There is no muse, just you

Unfortunately, the mythical muses are just that – a seductive fairy tale which fools us into thinking creativity is more magic than graft. Yes, sometimes we may feel like inspiration has come from the divine, but dig a little deeper and you will find your mind has been searching and planning all along. There are no short-cuts.

There is only our willingness to try and fail and try again. What prevents most of us from fulfilling our creative potential is not laziness or lack of talent but the sheer terror of laying our souls on the page/canvass/fabric and being found wanting.

And yes, it is terrifying. Every week, I fear that I will lose all my readers, that they will yawn and leave after the first paragraph or not read my post at all. Creativity involves a huge amount of risk. Yet risk is what gives us the thrill when we occasionally get it right.

Ironically, the only thing that can help us get over our fear and improve our offerings is to keep honing our words and sharing our vision.

What would you like to create? Now is the best time to start.

Treading a New Path

Tempting though it may be to sink into the comfortable predictability of late middle age, that is definitely not for me. Life has always seemed too short to satisfy my rather boundless curiosity and now, of course, it is shorter still. So, when reading a fabulous arts magazine I came across the fourth reference to a book I have been meaning to acquire for decades, I took the universe’s hint, logged into eBay and bought it.

Some of you will already be familiar with this seminal work. The Artist’s Way was published in the early 1990s and is a standard text for all those wanting to pursue a creative path. Perhaps the title put me off (I’m certainly no artist) but it is written by a writer for all artists -whether working in the visual or literary spheres. It is equally applicable to anyone wanting to live more creatively whether they produce anything or not. If I had known quite what I was letting myself in for, I may have opted to purchase a novel instead, but now I have begun this new journey, I will have to finish it.

It started with a book Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

I am reaching the end of the first week and have completed all the assignments to date – yes, this is not a book to read but to work from. The primary assignment that continues throughout (and which most readers continue well after the final page in the book is closed) is a three page freewriting exercise. Sadly, the only empty notebook I had was an A4 Pukka pad.

Facing the blank page

Each morning I must fill these pages with whatever thoughts enter my mind without editing or reviewing. (I’m not allowed to read these pages for a further seven weeks.) It’s not exactly a diary, but more a stream of consciousness. Throughout my teaching career, I have taught students to use free-writing to discover ideas and solve puzzles. It is a technique I often employ myself, but doing it every day and to such a length (about 750 words) is another matter entirely. A full 45 minutes to an hour must be found in addition to that for meditation and yoga. (My early mornings are getting seriously busy!)

What shall I write today? Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

Confronting the blank page is, as always, a challenge. Yet, with the tight time constraints of my morning, I certainly can’t doodle or arrange paper clips as I might if more time were available. And what exactly do I have to say?

The answer is: a surprising amount. No sooner has my pen touched the page than I am off. Sometimes happily rambling, other times problem solving and occasionally coming up with a line or metaphor that I rather like. Since no-one is going to read it but me, I am free to do exactly what I please and this liberation alone is exhilarating. And once the three pages are complete, it’s time for the next exercise. These are all short, witty and often illuminating. I certainly enjoyed writing an imaginary letter to thank my wonderful English teacher who instilled me with a life-long love of literature and language. (I also rather relished the somewhat rude one I wrote to a domineering drama teacher who snuffed the tiny flicker of confidence I had in the performing arts.)

Facing your demons

Writing in this way has often been used for therapy. Expressing our thoughts and emotions freely in this form can be extremely liberating and clarifying. It is also a fabulous way to put events into perspective. When we see it written down, a huge and threatening fear becomes diminished by its representation through small marks on a page.

And fear is the greatest enemy for anyone wishing to be creative. Will it be good enough? Will it be appreciated? Will I be shamed for my efforts? All artists face these fears and having produced a masterpiece does not exempt you from them. I often think the successful artist has the toughest challenge in this regard. They are expected to be brilliant all the time. The rest of us are happy if one or two people say that they like it.

Taking courage to venture into our own dark woods Image: Branimir Balogovic on Unsplash

A habit of writing – regularly and without criticism – is the best antidote to this. Writing becomes natural, subject to errors but also to revelation. So many of us do not write, even to dear friends, because they are frightened their writing will not be good enough. We are not aiming for publication, only communication, and whatever we say from our hearts will be perfect.

Artist date

The second regular exercise is what she terms the artist date. For two hours a week, you set aside time to pursue something that will satisfy your creative cravings. Perhaps you will go to a museum, buy art supplies, or take the time to make something. By setting this time aside in the diary, it elevates a vague desire into a definite commitment. This week, with my two hours on a quiet day ‘booked in’, I finally got around to a simple sewing project that had been rattling about in my head for ages. Amazingly, it was successful and I hope to be able to replicate this success in future projects.

If you were able to allocate two hours in a week (and I would hope everyone has at least that much time) where would your creativity take you?

Who knows where this journey will lead? Image: Levi Bare on Unsplash

I have only just begun and though I suspect that this journey in creativity will have its obstacles and frustrations like any other travel adventure, I am curious to see where it will lead. Will I revisit and revise my teen novel? Start writing poetry again? Find an entirely new way of exploring my creative needs? I have no idea. But then, the joy of an adventure is not knowing where it will end.