Passive versus Active Creator (Archived)
For decades I wallowed as a passive creator, patiently tickling and teasing the muse, itching for the wriggle of a new idea. I languished at the mercy of the tide of creativity, slave to the ebb and flow of ideas. Creativity would surge in a glorious, delicious, delirious rush… then flag into a flat and featureless doldrums that could span weeks.
As I work to nudge my writing from a delightful personal hobby into a more professional space, I require a more proactive strategy. No one who works a nine to five job wanders into work when they feel like it, or when the mood takes them. You build routines into your week to manage your work commitments — routines like going to bed at a reasonable time, getting up with sufficient time to get ready, prepping lunches and ironing clothes and planning for child-care or other carer responsibilities. You manage yourself and your life to ensure you can be where you need to be and produce what is required to maintain your nine to five job.
What sorts of routines are required to position yourself in a place of creativity and consistency? Different things will work for different people. In this blog I will share some of the things that work for me.
One resource I find particularly useful in shifting myself into a more active space as a writer is ‘Author Publish Magazine’ https://www.authorspublish.com/. This is an email magazine that washes into my inbox a rich and varied list of publishing opportunities and articles. Of particular interest to me are the themed calls or themed competitions for short pieces.
Splashing about in these themes or prompts spices up my writing. Not every splash becomes a story and not every story pulls together neatly, but stretching my creative muscles in new directions is invigorating. I set aside time each week to romp about in a theme, researching ideas (limiting how much time I allow for the endless fall into Google!), permissioning myself to be silly and mapping out concepts with vast dramatic scribbles.
There are plenty of articles and blogs that give fantastic advice on how to think outside the box when responding to themed calls. I set aside time to research articles that exercise my creativity in being creative. To ensure this research remains an active and not a passive process, I have my pen poised, committed to testing that prompt, wisdom or routine. I keep my weekly planner on hand and I lock in time to taste-test each new prompt or idea.
Would you describe yourself as passively or actively creative? What can you do this week to be more actively creative?
(Posted 17 Nov 2019. Follow me at: https://nicolewalshauthor.com/)
