Creativity

Making Creativity "Work"

Published on by Kristi Holl

It’s good to be back to the blog! It’s been a wonderful “learning time” during the three-month sabbatical. I won’t repeat what most of you received in my August newsletter. [Sign-up to the right.] Instead, today I want to talk about the nuts and bolts of creativity. Specifically, a writer’s creativity.

Creativity is a mysterious concept to most of us. We don’t really understand what it is, where it comes from, why it leaves us, and how to make it “work” consistently. We give it a lot of power over us because of this.

Does it have to be this way? I’ve learned over the past three months that the answer is a resounding NO!

Coaxing Creativity

The author of The Soul Tells a Story says “if I know from experience that inspiration arrives under certain conditions, I will make sure to re-create the conditions that invited it initially. Thus my early experience comes to determine how it is I will work.”

The first month of the sabbatical went pretty much how I expected. I had set up conditions in May to help me be productive on the novel, plus do a lot of craft study. I logged in a LOT of writing and studying hours. But then June… I had planned for school being out (grandchildren here), but then along came an unexpected chance to write adult mysteries. What a dream come true if I could do it! I have always loved mysteries–and have published many for children–so I wanted to submit a couple of ideas. It took me most of June, including once pulling an all-nighter after the grandchildren went home, but on June 30th I submitted two detailed chapter-by-chapter outlines.

I signed contracts for both adult mysteries in July! I am elated, but my creative writing routine in June didn’t look at ALL like my routine in May. No study to speak of, no progress on the middle-grade novel. Plus that all-nighter wiped me out for three or four days. (No wonder I stopped that practice after college!) But it got me to thinking in July, as the sabbatical was drawing to a close and I face actually producing the mysteries, just what conditions were the most conducive for creativity on a sustained basis.

Your Own Style

Each writer is different. I know writers who must be surrounded by noise and people or loud music in order to write. You find them in coffee shops, focused on their laptops. I am just the opposite, preferring quiet and solitude when I can get it.

But life didn’t get simpler as I got older. It gets more complex as you add in-laws and grandchildren. (If you want to read a terrific article about this, see “Encroachment” by Robin LaFevers.) In part, she said these two things:

The pressing demands of daily life have a rather sobering ability to suck all of the creative oxygen out of a room. They don’t even have to be big, catastrophic type demands. Sometimes simply the endless dripping of life’s mundanities can wear away our reserves until there is nothing left. There are just so very many ways to be pulled in the direction of others–in spite of how necessary facing inward is in order to give free voice to our creativity…

AND

But within about five minutes of their departure [kids going to college], I quickly discovered there are lots and lots of additional ways to be pulled outward and become other focused.

  • Extended family
  • Financial pressures
  • Mental and emotional clutter
  • The internet
  • Social media
  • Gatekeepers: critique partners, agents, editors, reviewers
  • The “market”
  • Readers

Take a Self-Inventory

All of those things can impact your creativity. If you’re not sure what conditions are best for your ability to create, think back to when you started writing. How did you work best then? What conditions did you just naturally create for yourself? What are the non-negotiables you must have for your creativity to flourish?

Here are some things to consider: 

  • Before writing, do you need some quiet time to think, meditate, or pray?
  • Can you write at any time of day–or only at certain times?
  • Can you write any place–or do you need your “office” to be the same each day? Can you write in the study room at the public library to improve concentration?
  • Can you write in tiny bits of time–or does your creativity absolutely require large chunks of time? Does it vary depending on the stage of your book?
  • How much socializing do you need in order to be your most creative? (This includes time with writers and non-writers alike, time to “talk shop” and time to just have fun.)
  • When you are stuck, does it help to read a book on craft (viewpoint, research, inspiration, etc.) to get your creativity flowing again?
  • Does reading other writers’ books help you be more creative–or does it make you feel anxious as you compare yourself to them?
  • Do you need a healthier diet or more sleep for your creativity to be at its peak? Or do you work best on short naps and skipping meals?
  • What kind of critique at what point in your project is helpful? What kind is the kiss of death to your creativity? (When is your ego more fragile?)
  • Do you work best with a deadline, or do deadlines make you freeze up? Do you do well with six-month deadlines but choke on series deadlines set every two months?
  • Can you be creative when dealing with emotional upset? Do you need to solve family problems before you can settle down to write?

Take Time to Know Yourself

As we’ve said before, just because conditions aren’t perfect doesn’t mean you can’t be creative. We’ve all had to produce work under some appalling conditions. But if you have a choice, it’s lovely to set up your life and home and schedule and diet and social life so that it most benefits YOU and your creativity. (And you probably have more choices than you think.)

Take time to answer the above questions. Life can take over! If you’ve been writing a long time, you may have forgotten what conditions kick started your writing in the first place.

Thinking Back…

I started writing when my oldest three kids were babies and toddlers. We had a farm in Iowa, lots of pets, big vegetable gardens, no Internet, few neighbors, lots of room inside the farmhouse and outside, lots of quiet and fresh air. It can’t have been as ideal as my memory makes it out to be, but it was very conducive to thinking and pondering and reading and writing.

At the beginning of my sabbatical, that old life bore little resemblance to my life today–so I planned ways to bring back some of those elements into my daily life. I loved having my children around me, and I’m happiest now when I’ve had plenty of contact with my four grandchildren. I loved living in the country then; now we live in a city, but next door to a park and greenbelt, so it is much the same if I just go outside more and enjoy the fresh air. Last weekend the grandchildren and I fed apples to the deer on the trail. I have a vegetable garden again, but it’s small enough to be fun.

The Biggie

The biggest change I see is having the Internet. I’m an introvert–preferring solitude and quiet when it’s time to write. Being online for any length of time is agitating to me, for some odd reason (even though I view very benign websites!) Afterwards, I find it hard to settle down and write.

During the sabbatical I experimented with staying offline until noon, having “no media days,” limiting email to checking it once or twice, but not actually responding to it till later in the day. I also wrote in places like the library without Internet access on my laptop. All those things increased both my creativity and my productivity on the novel. It doesn’t affect all writers this way, but it’s worth experimenting to find out what (if anything) it does for your creativity.

Now It’s Your Turn

What about you? What things do you suspect would help you coax your creativity out of hiding on a more regular basis? What changes are the hardest to make? What one change could you make today?

Pacifiers or Catalysts: Your Choice

Published on by Kristi Holl

What if you’re tired of your non-writing rut, but you can’t seem to crawl out of it either? 

I’ve noticed one amazing thing about myself and other writers who claim to want to write more than anything else. Something odd takes over, and we fill the free time of our lives with all kinds of non-writing activities. We reach for things that make us feel good, that quell any anxiety we might be feeling, or at least keep us occupied.

What fills our lives–what quells our anxiety–can be either positive or negative. The activity we choose can be either a pacifier or a catalyst.

What’s the Outcome?

Activities that fall under the heading of “pacifiers” are things like mindless TV viewing, complaining about the sad state of publishing to all your writing friends, eating mass amounts of comfort food, surfing the Net, playing video games, or shopping till you drop.

Nothing good (for your writing career) comes from any of those activities. They serve simply as pacifiers, something to make the whining, fretful baby in us be quiet. But are we then any closer to our writing goals? No, not at all. We’ve simply passed some time–writing time that we can’t get back.

Positive Time Fillers

As I asked in the opening, what if you’re tired of your non-writing rut, but you can’t seem to crawl out of it either? What can you fill your free time with instead of a pacifier activity? Why not try a catalyst instead? It’s your choice. A catalyst is a springboard for change, something that nudges you in a better direction. The next time you feel anxious about your writing and want to fill your time with something to soothe the fear, why not try a positive change agent?

Activities that fall into the catalyst category might include:

  • watching an inspiring movie
  • spending time with a writing mentor or coach
  • reading an inspirational book or self-help writing book
  • listening to motivational tapes on an MP3 player
  • reading a biography or watching a documentary about someone you admire (especially another writer)
  • reading a current copy of The Writer or Writer’s Digest
  • attending a writing conference, retreat or workshop

Think Ahead–Then Choose

We all feel anxious sometimes to the point of being stuck. That’s okay. Just be aware that there are activities that only pacify the fear (and waste your time)–but there are also enjoyable activities that can act as catalysts to get you writing. Choose the activity that is going to propel you forward, not help you stagnate even further.

We all have our favorite catalysts. Mine include reading inspirational writing books or writing articles I’ve saved over the years, Skyping with another author about writing issues, or watching a movie about authors (like Becoming Jane, Cross Creek, Finding Forrester, Finding Neverland, or Miss Potter).

What is your favorite pacifier–and what’s the effect on your writing? On the positive side, what is your most helpful catalyst and its effect on your writing? Please share some ideas that work best for you.

A Walking Idea Factory

Published on by Kristi Holl

Some days I feel about as creative as a cement block. Most of us know, however, that we can’t wait to feel creative before we write.

Writers who wait for inspiration before they decide to write are generally known as hobbyists. Working writers–those actively writing and growing in their craft–must write whether the muse is “in” or not.

“Which means, essentially,” James Scott Bell says, “you have to become a walking idea factory.” And he really does mean walking. He said he gets a lot of his ideas for his current work-in-progress when walking. I know other writers who’ve said the same thing.

Dragging My Heels

I love to walk, but I have usually balked at this kind of “work while you walk” advice. After working at my desk, I want a break. And mulling over my novel while taking a walk doesn’t do a darned thing to refresh me. My brain is too tired. When I walk, I want to listen to a book on tape, something Jane Austen-y that I know will feed my soul. Thinking about my own novel just feels like more work to me.

But…I’m happy to say that’s not what Bell recommends! In his The Art of War for Writers, he says that after a writing session, “I try to take an hour walk every day and listen to an audio book.” Inevitably his muse or imagination (what he calls “the boys in the basement”) sends up ideas for his work-in-progress while he’s listening to his audio book for relaxation. When that happens, he stops, makes a note in the pocket notebook he carries, then goes back to his audio book and walks some more.

He calls this his system for “being creative without thinking about it. That way you can be ‘working’ on your idea even when you’re not working on it.”

Then What?

For several days I tried Bell’s system. I hadn’t expected it to work–but it did! While walking and listening to Pride and Prejudice on my MP3 player, my brain released a good number of ideas–things that I could later develop (a secondary character’s flaw, a plot twist that would also show the book’s theme, a better setting for the climax scene). I have to admit that I was very surprised how well this worked.

If you want to try it, here are Bell’s steps for becoming a walking idea factory.

  • Focus fully on your book or story idea during your writing time.
  • Take a walk and relax, then capture the ideas that pop up during your walk.
  • Back home, immediately put your recorded bits in a computer file. Expand on them, brainstorm the ideas, follow rabbit trails. Do that with each idea that popped up on your walk.
  • Let the ideas cool for a day and then come back to them for assessment.
  • Decide which ideas to keep and use in your current work. Set the others aside for another project.

Bell says if you get used to thinking this way, your creativity will explode!

Creative Writers and Depression

Published on by Kristi Holl

I was reading an article in Writing World‘s monthly newsletter (see archives here) where an editor revealed her struggles with depression.

Her symptoms might surprise you.

They also might sound familiar.

Could This Be You?

Dawn wrote: “It came as a huge surprise to me. I thought I was suffering from Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome, or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I did not think I was depressed. I mean, surely I would notice feeling depressed? Surely I would, well, you know, feel sad, weepy or blue? Apparently not. The fact that my body had slowed down, and weakened, that my concentration had been blown to pieces and my ability to think became clouded in a fog are all textbook symptoms of clinical depression. Feeling sad doesn’t really come into it. I had, in layman’s terms, overloaded my system. I had tried to do too much for too long and something has to give.”

Writer Overload

I applaud Dawn for speaking out on this issue. I see writers (and others) overloading themselves terribly these days. I used to think it was just a “young mom writer” syndrome, but I see it in all ages as writers try to work 40 hours at day jobs, juggle children or grandchildren, do volunteer work, run marathons, do social networking, attend conferences, you name it! (And I’m preaching to myself here too!)

This editor/writer went on to describe how she’d slowly over-crowded her schedule (with good things!), and what that had done to her creativity. Since she didn’t exhibit classic signs of depression (sadness, crying), she didn’t realize her nervous system was basically trying to shut down.

If you recognized yourself in her description, do something now before you have a full-blown depression to address. Trust me–it’s easier to deal with your schedule before than to crash and burn after you’ve overdone it for way too long.

Take steps to deal with it now, while you have more choices.

Principles of a Creative Life

Published on by Kristi Holl

“The healthy creative life is an intentional life, in which the person examines options and opportunities, necessities and desires, and makes his or her choices accordingly.”

 ~~(Vinita Hampton Wright) in The Soul Tells a Story

You may know exactly what your writing dreams and gifts are because you’ve pondered them and journaled about them for a long time. That knowledge is important. But knowledge alone isn’t enough. You must be intentional in using this knowledge to develop your creative life.

A Writing Life on Purpose

The healthy creative life involves practices that help further develop your gifts. If you want to write, you have the responsibility to develop practices that help you grow. (You also need to get rid of habits that hurt your writing–but that’s another post!) You can (and should) set goals, design rituals to help you get started (light candles, make tea, put on music) and form habits that help you both start and continue writing.

Here are some questions for you to answer to examine this part of your life. Even if you’ve been writing for a long time, I’d suggest answering the questions based on where you are now. I found them very helpful myself. Without meaning to, we can get off-track, our life circumstances can get us off course, or we might never have given this sufficient thought to begin with.

Now’s the Time!

Here are some questions from The Soul Tells a Story. Brainstorm answers in your journal.

  • How intentional (using planning or goals) have I been about developing my creativity?
  • What opportunities am I looking for–and are these options open to me?
  • What qualities do I want to nurture in my personality and lifestyle that will allow me to use my gifts in my writing?
  • What rituals or practices always seem to work to help me do my writing?
  • What other rituals and practices that I’ve heard about would I like to try?

It’s time to make some intentional choices! We might need to make them for the first time–or we might need to make some because our life circumstances have changed.

We won’t grow as writers unless we intend to grow and choose to grow. What’s a “growth choice” that you might like to make–and implement–very soon?

In Your "Write" Mind

Published on by Kristi Holl

Do you think about what you’re thinking about?

You should!

Controlling Toxic Thoughts

I’ve been reading a lot lately about current brain research and the huge impact our thoughts have on our creativity, our health, and how we use our gifts. I highly recommend a couple of fascinating books by Dr. Caroline Leaf called Who Switched Off My Brain? (Controlling Toxic Thoughts and Emotions) and The Gift in You (Thomas Nelson Publishers). I couldn’t put either one down.

But Then What?

Let’s say you’re already convinced that your thoughts are critically important. Perhaps you’ve believed for a long time that as a man thinks, so does he become. Maybe you’ve even noticed that you think some pretty rotten and discouraging thoughts from time to time!

Is it enough to just stop thinking those negative thoughts? I don’t know-but I doubt that it’s possible. Even if it were, a totally blank mind isn’t much help to a writer.

Truth Wins Out

Studies have shown that you need to replace the negative thoughts with positive ones, but it does no good to lie to yourself.  You could stop telling yourself, “I’m such a rotten writer” and start saying instead, “I’m the best writer in the country!” But you’d know inside that (a) it’s not true, and (b) you don’t believe it. It wouldn’t change anything.

The goal is not to  replace a wrong thought with a silly or happy thought. You replace them with affirmative, true, real thoughts.

And that’s where Eric Maisel’s Write Mind comes in. [The subtitle is 299 Things Writers Should Never Say to Themselves (and What They Should Say Instead).] As he asserts, “You want to write more often and more deeply… To meet these goals, you must improve how you communicate with yourself.”

Some of his “right mind/write mind” ideas are humorous, but there’s a lot of truth in them too. “My hope is that you can learn to think right,” Maisel says. “I hope you can learn to say, ‘I wrote an awful first novel and now I’m starting on my second novel’ instead of, ‘I wrote an awful first novel and that proves I’m an idiot.'”

Listen to Yourself

When you’re struggling to write or deal with disappointing writing news, what kinds of things do you say to yourself? Is there something else you could tell yourself that would lift you up instead of push you deeper into a depression? For starters, let me give you a few of Maisel’s 299 suggestions. I hope you will then either buy his little book or make your own personalized list.

  • Wrong Mind: “I need what I am writing to be loved.”
  • Right Mind: “I need what I am writing to be strong.”
  • Wrong Mind: “Somebody has the answer and if I take enough writing workshops I am sure to happen upon the answer.”
  • Right Mind: “I learn to write by writing and I learn to market by marketing.”
  • Wrong Mind: “I can’t describe things.”
  • Right Mind: “I should practice describing things.”
  • Wrong Mind: “I haven’t written for six months. That must mean that I will never write again.”
  • Right Mind: “I am very ready to write after six months of not writing.”

How’s YOUR Mind Today?

Learn to distinguish your right thinking from your wrong-injurious thinking. You can be your own worst enemy here–or your own best friend. It’s your choice.

If you’re feeling very brave, leave a comment below with one of your “wrong mind” statements and then a better “right mind” statement you intend to tell yourself from now on! Here’s mine: “I’m too tired to write” changed to “I can write ten minutes!”

A F*R*E*E Course on Creativity

Published on by Kristi Holl

After blogging just once per week for five months, I’ve decided that this frequency isn’t often enough to share what I want to share.

I plan to go back to blogging here twice a week. On Tuesdays I will discuss some “first aid help for writers” topic. On Fridays I plan to give you resources I’ve found helpful: other blog posts, articles, apps, books, and methods to make our writing lives better, more productive, and more fun!

This Freebie is Great

Five weeks ago I signed up for “The Creative Pathfinder,” a free 26-week course on creativity. You receive one lesson per week in your email.

I hadn’t planned to write about this until I finished the whole twenty-six weeks. However, after just five lessons, I think I will pass this along now. It’s a perfect course to begin during the summer months. It will keep your creativity bubbling along despite interruptions from vacations, kids, and visitors that come with summertime.

How It Works

Each lesson builds on the one before it. Each lesson comes with additional articles to read (if you’re interested), worksheets to download so you can apply the lesson, and links to books that are quoted.

To whet your appetite, here’s Lesson #5: “The Four Most Powerful Types of Creative Thinking.” If you like what you read, there is a link at the bottom of the lesson to sign up for the entire free 26-week course.

 

Creativity: Inside or Outside the Box?

Published on by Kristi Holl

If trying to be creative feels like slogging through mud lately, you may be trying too hard.

If so, I’ve got good news for you!

Several articles I’ve read lately disputed the idea that “thinking outside the box” is the way to be more creative. It’s given me hope, as I don’t tend to be an “outside the box” thinker.

I actually like my box. It’s cozy. It’s nicely decorated–but unoriginal, I fear.

Inside or Outside the Box?

Who’s most creative? Read the following articles and decide for yourself.

One Last Thought

Are you thinking that the articles sound good–but you just don’t know if you’re up to it? Then I have one last post for you to read: “3 Things You Can Start Doing Today to Build Your Self-Confidence” by Henrik Edberg. They’re simple–but effective. And they work no matter what side of the box you prefer.

Now, have at it! And if you’re brave, leave a comment and tell us which side of the box you prefer!

 

Drains in Disguise

Published on by Kristi Holl

I was wrong–again.

For twenty years, I’ve told students and wannabe writers that you have to put the writing first! Do it before other things take over your day.

Fight the impulse to clean your kitchen first, or straighten your office, or clean up the mess the kids made before leaving for school.

“But I can’t work in chaos,” writers protest.

You know what? Neither can I anymore–at least not well! And when I force myself to, the work is doubly tiring. Doubly stressful. Much less satisfying.

Energy Drains in Disguise

Something I read today made me realize my advice might be a tad off. Not wrong altogether, since if we don’t make writing some sort of priority, we won’t do it. However, to eliminate energy drains in your life, you need to look at the whole picture. Certainly all the things you do in a given day take your energy. Every action you take on your lengthy “to do” list uses energy.

What you may not realize is that actions you don’t take use energy as well. Your disorganized office, the piles of laundry on the bedroom floor, the stack of bills to pay, the two birthday gifts to buy, the clothing needing repair–all this drains your energy reserves as well. It happens whether you are looking at the unfinished business or just thinking about it.

It siphons off energy that could be used in a much more positive way. “These items on your mental ‘to do’ list, the ones you’ve been procrastinating about, distract you or make you feel guilty and drain the very energy you need to accomplish your goals.” (So says Cheryl Richardson in Take Time for Your Life.)

NOT an Excuse to Procrastinate

Taking care of the unfinished business that nags at your mind–and keeps you from feeling like you can settle down to write–may be necessary before you can tackle your writing assignment. Don’t go overboard though, or you’re just procrastinating. Washing the dirty dishes is one thing–taking time to replace the shelf paper in your pantry is something else.

Figure out the things that you MUST have done to feel at peace in your environment, and do those things ONLY. (It helps to do as many of them as you can the night before too.)

Eliminate the chaos in your environment, and you’ll eliminate a LOT of the chaos that blocks your writer’s mind. Now…off to clean my office.

Calming the Writer's Soul

Published on by Kristi Holl

I sat down to write four times this morning, but my mind simply wouldn’t stop jumping the tracks.

One second I’d be thinking, “This backstory paragraph slows down the opening and should be moved.” The next minute, with a catch in my throat, I was thinking about Laurie again.

Get a Grip!

My daughter is on her fourth deployment (Afghanistan this time). Being her fourth tour, you’d think I’d have a better system for mind control, but not today, for some reason.

I pray a lot, email her, try to write, and it lasts for just a few minutes. So, like all writers who can’t focus, I check email. I love Thomas Kinkade paintings, and someone had emailed me the above picture. I just sat and stared at it for a moment, feeling the peace steal over me.

Peace Like a River

While I don’t often have time to steal away and sit by a stream–something always so calming–I plan to “sit” by my Thomas Kinkade stream several times today. I made it the photo on my desktop, so all I have to do is minimize what I’m working on, and there it is!

Without leaving my computer, I can walk along that little footpath, sit on a rock by the stream, and watch the water flow by. What a great use of technology and our imaginations. When my worries have floated away, I can go back to work.

Writing is a mental activity, so emotional issues interrupt that activity. During stressful times, find things that work to calm you…and then pick up your pen again. [NOTE: if you have a simple idea like this one that works for you, please share it!]