Creative
Craziness
“Create
whatever causes a revolution in your heart.”
Elizabeth Gilbert (Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear)
I just
read an article from the New York Times about massive amounts of freight piled
up at our ports that is forcing ships to idle offshore for seven to eleven
weeks. Container ships cannot get in with cargo, and empty containers cannot go
out fast enough to allow the Asian manufacturing industry to ship their
products, which are now piling up on factory floors. Technology and automobile parts
can’t get out, and soybeans and grain can’t get in, which equals empty shelves
and back orders in the US, and food scarcity in China and elsewhere. It’s a
massive logjam that is affecting the whole world. To my mystical way of thinking,
it’s a metaphor for everything this pandemic has stood for—what a mess.
I had a
conversation last night with a friend who is an artist and writer. She said she
had barely been able to write one complete sentence per day. It’s all just
stuck in her head. The frustration this causes can only be matched by the ship
captains idled off the coast of California for months. That’s a lot of pent-up
energy looking for a blowhole, which accounts for the tension we feel almost
all the time. Something’s got to give!
What works
for me when I’m jammed up is big muscle activity. Instead of taking a small
brush and dipping it in paint to make a slim line of color, take the whole jar
and throw it at the canvas. Go all “Pollock” on it. Instead of cutting small
squares and rectangles of fabric, just start ripping strips and sewing them
together, then cut them apart and sew them together again. Rip and sew, rip and
sew! Instead of taking a short walk around the neighborhood, blast some disco
music in your earbuds and let ‘er rip! Get your body moving and your jammed up
mind will shake loose too. Pent up creative energy is trouble waiting to
happen, so give it an exit ramp and put it to good use.
To be creative,
passion is essential. When Elizabeth Gilbert says to do “whatever causes a
revolution in your heart”, she means, find your passion, and jump right in
the middle of it. Go ahead and make mistakes, throw things, dump whatever is in
your way, and when the dust settles, you will be calm enough to think straight.
Don’t worry about bad sentences, or poor word choice, or too many adverbs. Just
write from your stream of consciousness. In fact, use all the adjectives and
adverbs you want. There will be time later to clean it up when cooler heads
prevail. For now, just go a little creatively crazy and see what happens. With
luck, it could be the beginning of your opus.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
No comments:
Post a Comment