We do it for the love of it, right? That soul deep knowledge that writing is exactly what we were put on this earth to do. Even and despite the hard days – the days when the words won’t come and it feels like your creativity has abandoned you. That’s an interesting concept, actually, that creativity is some kind of sentient entity, a sort of of divinity that floats around granting wishes to the deserving. Elizabeth Gilbert writes about it eloquently in her book, Big Magic, one of my favourite texts on writing.
Gilbert believes that creativity wants to find a host, someone willing and passionate enough to bring an idea to life. She speaks of experiences in which she had a great idea but not enough time to write it, only to discover months later that a friend had had this very same idea, down to the fine details, and had pursued it all the way to a book deal. For Gilbert, in order for ideas to find us, we need to be open to receiving them.
This isn’t to say you should wait for inspiration, far from it. Sometimes writing is a slog, and you have to force yourself to stay seated and get the words down. But the glorious feeling of finally getting to that sought after flow state? For me, that makes those hard days worth it. Like any relationship, in order to be fulfilling and meaningful, writing requires time and consistency. So if you can, set up a writing routine (a flexible one is best), and don’t beat yourself up if you find it hard to stick to initially. Be gentle with yourself. Writing is one of the hardest things in the world to do, and do well.
Most importantly, don’t be dispirited by the bad days! As Gilbert wisely says, “you don’t need to conduct autopsies on your disasters.”
Writing is full of contradictions, but so are many professions, and no-one goes through life unscathed. What matters is that if you feel the call to create, don’t ignore it. Even if it’s scary, even if you’re worried you’ll mess it up, because I promise you’ll regret it if you don’t, and regret is much harder to live with than fear.
I’ll leave you with this quote, which has bolstered me more than once:
“Creativity is sacred, and it is not sacred. What we make matters enormously, and it doesn’t matter at all. We toil alone, and we are accompanied by spirits. We are terrified, and we are brave. Art is a crushing chore and a wonderful privilege. It is only when we are at our most playful that divinity can finally get serious with us. Make space for all these paradoxes to be equally true inside your soul, and I promise – you can make anything.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
Arianne James 