Filling up the Bucket
So I just read one of Ben Nesvig’s most recent posts and I’m feeling a little down. It brings up a really critical point though: “Your mental capacity is not in a fixed state. Creativity is a muscle. Just like any other type of muscle, in order for it to grow stronger, you need to push yourself on a consistent basis. Spurts of 2 weeks of steady writing and one month off are too inconsistent. Whatever isn’t getting better is getting worse.”
Following the ‘creativity’ link, what James Altucher had to say further on the subject, was even a little more depressing: “You need to exercise the idea muscle. It takes about 3-6 months to build up once it atrophies. Trust me on this.”
I trust both of you, Ben and James. In fact I think you are the bluntly honest talk I’ve been needing from a close creative friend. It’s been two years since I’ve been to the gym anywhere close to my regular routine of 3-4 days per week and reading these two posts has reminded me that it’s been 10 months since I’ve done any serious work on my novel. Hence the sadness. My physical and creative selves have atrophied. I really feel like I’ve let myself down.
Two questions immediately come up: Why have I let myself down? How do I get back on track?
Now, I am proud of the struggle I’ve been waging over the last few years to answer the first question of why I seem to be standing in my own way, but I really feel this frustrated sense of the closer I get to unpacking all this baggage, the more there is to sort through. You ever decide to do a monumental spring cleaning and lose your verve halfway through? You say you’ll get back to it, but if you stop now all you’ve succeeded in doing is creating a bigger mess. Well I’m soldiering on regardless of the bigger mess, but I truly feel I need a new tactic, new motivation, new determination. I think it’s time I focus all my energy on answering the second question.
So? How do I get back on track? Setting goals for myself is challenging. I have a hard time plotting out the little steps that keep me from getting frustrated that I cannot realize the big goal immediately. I also know that if I don’t get little rewards along the way I lose motivation. See, all that mess of unpacking has done me some good, I know my personal Achilles heel. The challenge remains how to surmount it.
So what does all this have to do with storytelling?
Quite a bit really. It’s about how to keep exercising your creativity, even when you feel the bucket is empty. One drop might not feel significant, but it’s a start and maybe adding just one more drop is the only next step you have to worry concentrate on. Once you get back in the flow, it’s easy to get caught back up in your creativity without even realizing it.
Jeff Harrison
Jeff Harrison 