Tag: creativity
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how i write
I open the browser to write, then I open the photo app. I scroll through some pictures. And then I open my text messaging app as I suddenly remembered all the texts that I forgot to reply to (I just remembered another one.) And then when there is nowhere left to go. No other distraction…
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routine
I feel like I’ve gotten kind of nowhere today with the work I wanted to do. And now I’m thinking about how that is the gift of a routine (or a practice of showing up to creative work). The gift– even if one day you feel unaccomplished in your work you know that tomorrow you…
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process
The thing I wish I would have known as a high school student: success and failure often feel the same to me. They are big, complicated feelings that after processing usually leave me feeling just a tad empty. (failed at a thing? I have to do more to do it right. succeeded at thing? I…
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locksmiths
A locksmith’s job is to open a locked door. Seth Godin explains: they don’t take it personally if a key does not open the lock. They simply try the next key. They don’t wonder if they should pursue a different profession. Or if they are worthy. They simply keep trying until it works. This metaphor…
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creating as nonlinear work
Maybe writing or creating is not as linear as I thought. Maybe that is where I get hung up– thinking that the creative process is linear. But you don’t go from nothing to finished product. On a good day, you go from nothing to something. And then revisit, edit, and change. Or maybe you know…
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doubt+confidence
Whenever I’m creating something, I like to walk the line between these two feelings: This is shit. This is the shit. Both/and always. One keeps it going, the other keeps it growing.
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length requirements
What is the purpose of length requirements in the writing classes we took in high school and college? Perhaps the argument behind requiring a student to write a 10 page essay is that it ensures that the student is writing enough for the teacher to grade. By requiring 10 pages, it allows the student to…
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reassurance
It is very easy for me to compare my work to others… especially its reception. I do this while looking through the lens of scarcity. They have more than I have, therefore I have less and need more. But what do I need more of? More reassurance that my work is valid? (I often perceive…
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like, realizing stuff
One.) What other other people say about your art is not objective. Even if they’re “experts” in the field. Two.) Difficult decisions are most difficult when you’re in the process of making them. After you’ve made the decision it is no longer difficult. (this idea is from Debbie Milman) Three.) We often say, “it’s all…
