The secrets to creativity + book recos
I was chatting with my neighbour when she blurted it out: "Creativity is just shut off from me."
We were talking about her filmmaker husband and my book and our creative journeys when she admitted that about herself, as if she were missing some key ingredient that had somehow eluded her.
I looked around us, at my daughter playing with her own three girls in her backyard, and thought, "Are you freaking kidding me? You're creating all over the place!"
I often meet people who don't think of themselves as artists or writers or creators, but I believe we are all creative beings, and that God created us to create. It’s our humanness that gets in the way—agendas, expectations, perfectionism, self-doubt.
So how do you get around being human? I have a few things that have always worked for me:
1. I talk to God. A lot. This may sound silly, but I literally go to God over my books. We converse about it, I ask Him to help me with my scenes or stuck points…and He always delivers. Maybe that’s just me tapping into my intuition and inner knowing, or creating space for epiphanies and the universe to deliver what I’m asking for—whatever you want to call it. It works.
Like Rick Rubin says in his book The Creative Act, "The act of creation is an attempt to enter a mysterious realm. A longing to transcend...Without the spiritual component, the artist works with a crucial disadvantage...A spiritual viewpoint is limitless and invites fantastic possibilities."
2. Many of my clients crave rules, and yet I'm reluctant to impart them. "Rules direct us to average behaviour," Rick writes, and I'm inclined to agree.
Particularly when it comes to first draft, I feel that you need to throw out the script and look within. "Show something new. Share what's inside. And communicate your singular perspective," as Rick says.
Personally, I can’t create from a rule book or list of boxes to check—I save that for the editing process. First draft should be all about CREATION, and to me that means setting aside any expectations, frameworks, rules, and tapping into the message, story and feeling I want to evoke, convey and share.
3. If you desire to write a book, I truly believe that means the book is already in you.
Rick writes: "The materials exist hidden within...The psyche has admittance to a universal wisdom deeper than what we can come up with in our conscious mind. It provides a far less limited view, an oceanic source."
The book is already done. You just need to get out of the way, and the sooner you surrender your expectations, perfectionism, wanting to get it right and wanting to know how it ends before it even begins, the sooner you’ll be able to let go of analysis paralysis, self-doubt and all the things that slow us down and get in our way. Just make getting it all down on your first and only goal. Leave self-improvement to your second draft. You won’t be able to escape it anyway.
Cat xo
PS: While I'm on the subject, here are some books I recommend to tap into the power, mystery and magic of art and writing.
I'm just getting started, but still, Rick Rubin's The Creative Act is a gorgeous meditation on creation, whatever the platform or medium. From tapping into inner, spiritual, cosmic intuition to discovering ways to find and channel inspiration, I dig just about everything Rick has to say.
In his book On Writing, Stephen King taught me a lesson that I carry with me every day: Write with the door closed, edit with the door open. And also that inspiration and great books and stories are not necessarily borne in a quiet cabin in the woods, but in the midst of life and living--something that resonates with me and has been my own personal experience.
Chuck Palahniuk's Consider This is not just for Fight Club fans. In his guide to better writing, Chuck dishes out some of the best writing advice I've ever come across, including how to add texture to your story.
If you love talking books, and are interested in publishing and the craft of writing, you'll love my membership community, which includes monthly meet-ups and group coaching with me. Click here to join!