I am one of those people who reads more than one book at a time. The benefit to this (besides that I don’t get bored with what I’m reading) is that the books often link together in my mind to provide me with ideas that are bigger than what is presented within just one book. That’s been the case this week as I’ve read two books about creativity and one about simplifying life.
These are the three books I’m reading right now and what other writers might get out of reading them:
- Getting Unstuck Without Coming Unglued: A Woman’s Guide to Unblocking Creativity
by Susan O’Doherty. This is a self-help type of book for the creative person who is feeling blocked. Although I don’t feel that at this current time, I think it’s always beneficial to work through writing exercises in these types of books. This one takes the approach of asking you to do one exercise per chapter (things like figuring out what people negatively impacted your creative process at a young age). It provides the stories of multiple women to assist you in understanding how others might work through this. This book is intended for women and is best for those women who are helped my a psychological, therapeutic, self-help approach to tackling their creative problems.
- The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life
by John Daido Loori. At the other end of the spectrum is a book on creativity that takes a zen approach to art. In fact, the bulk of the book seems to be about teaching you how to practice zen meditation and to bring yourself to a place of stillness. The underlying foundation here is the belief that if you can be still, you can hear your artist’s heart and really bring yourself to the core of your artistic self. This book is good for people who are interested in a spiritual approach to creativity.
- The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less
by Barry Schwartz. This book isn’t about creativity per se. What it’s about is understanding how the availability of so many choices can effectively immobilize us in our lives. In a way, this ties in to the zen book. It’s got a theme of appreciating choice but also letting some of the decision-making go. It’s about living a simpler life so that you have the time and energy for other things, things like art. It’s the kind of book that helps me as a writer to remember what’s important to my creativity and what is just fluff on the edges.
These are just three books about creativity. I’m always looking for others and would welcome your suggestions here!
Related links: Susan O’Doherty, John Daido Loori, Barry Schwartz
[Tags] creativity, zen, self-help, writing, books, reading, recommendations [/Tags]
I am a firm believer in the idea that creative people must constantly refill their personal wells of inspiration in order to stay fresh in their work. I find this to be particularly true since I make a living as a writer. I spend almost all day, almost every day, writing for work. In order to avoid recycling the same ideas again and again, I work to engage myself in activities and projects that will broaden my creative experience.
One of this year’s projects is what I call “the neighborhood project”. The idea is that I’ll explore all there is to see in each of the different neighborhoods of San Francisco, taking them one month at a time. Because I made a move in January to begin working part-time in Berkeley, I decided that I’d choose that city for exploration in the month of January (as opposed to a neighborhood actually in San Francisco). It was difficult to do all that I wanted to in this first month because I didn’t make the move until halfway through the month. However, I did manage to experience some neat things which helped to inspire me in different ways.
Here are some of the things that Berkeley month did for me:
- I learned about some of the hiking areas in and around Berkeley. The only one that I have been able to check out extensively so far is Lake Chabot over in Oakland. The hiking that I did there gave me a renewed apprecation of the vast amount of nature that lies around the city. It also got me thinking about the way that places get their names (Lake Chabot is named after Anthony Chabot, as are many other things in this area). I’m not yet sure how that’s going to work it’s way into my writing but I hope that it does.
- I discovered Berkeley street poet Julia Vinograd. This got me reading poetry again which is something that I find really helps me get centered. There’s a simplification of words there that doesn’t happen in the other stuff that I read regularly, even blogs.
- I started to find the coffee shops, book stores, clothing stores and odds-and-ends shops that I hope will be places that I can go for self-expression over the next several months.
- I discovered the art museum associated with the college and put it on my list of things to visit in the next month. Also on this list I’ve put seeing a dance performance at Ashkenaz, music at Freight & Salvage, and theater at the Berkeley Repertory Theater. These are things that I hope will be ongoing sources of inspiration.
Because Berkeley is going to be a place that I’m going to be spending a lot of time, I was more focused on doing research for future sources of inspiration than really experiencing the creative moments available to me here right now. That sense of excitement about stuff that’s to come is, in itself, a great source of inspiration. I feel excited to see where I am which I think provides a great perspective for taking a new approach to work.
Tomorrow kicks off Chinatown month … who knows what I’ll discover in that famous San Francisco neighborhood?!
Question of the Day: Can you share something about Berkeley with me that I haven’t learned yet?
[Tags] berkeley, inspiration, writing, projects, creative, vinograd, chabot [/Tags]
I have a post up today over at Pureblogging which reflects on how important it is for bloggers to read books about blogging. The underlying assumption of the post is that all writers benefit from reading different types of writing. I try to make sure that my own reading agenda includes blog posts, in-depth online articles, magazines and books. I also try to make sure that the content of that reading material is varied. I believe that this helps to broaden my own experience of life as well as to inspire my own writing.
Although I do think that any type of reading at all can do this, I find that it’s useful for me as a writer to read books that are specifically about creativity and the creative process. I don’t, however, limit myself to reading books that are about writing. In fact, I have found that books about creativity in general tend to be more useful to me than books that are specifically about getting my writing going. Rather than writing prompts, I prefer reading about how to make my entire life more creative. A life lived artistically is a life that has inspiration around every turn.
It’s probably no surprise that the first book like this that I discovered was The Artist’s Way. It was years ago that I came across this famous book and worked through the exercises to unleash some of my creativity. I have since read several of Julia Cameron’s books and although I don’t always do the twelve-week process that they’re all about, I do find that I can get some refreshed inspiration here and there by reading through her ideas on creativity. Even the series of quotes lining the margins of her books is often a source of new ideas for me.
The most recent book that I read on creative living was Living Artfully by Sandra Magsamen. This book provides tips, anecdotes and examples of bringing creativity into your daily life. It touches on everything from creativity in your home decor to artistic ways of making your holidays more special. I particularly liked certain tips (such as using empty wine bottles as unique picture frames). But more than this, I found that taking the time each morning to read a few pages really got my creative juices going. This inspired me to provide creative ideas to others in some of my blog posts (see examples here and here) as well as to be more creative in my own personal projects.
In fact, it helped me to come up with many of the projects that I’m working on this year for my own personal development, including the neighborhoods project which I mentioned here in the blog recently. And because of that, I’ve added another goal to the list which is to fill an entire shelf on my bookcase with the books on creativity that I read this year.
Seeking Input: What other books on creativity should I add to this year’s reading list?
At the end of each year, I set forth some goals for what I would like to accomplish in the New Year. These aren’t resolutions in the traditional sense. Instead, they are a series of projects that I work on throughout the year. By writing them down on paper, I find that I am more likely to work towards accomplishing them. And although they are often unrelated to writing, they are all projects which add information and excitement to my life - something which ultimately results in better writing throughout the years.
Here are some of the annual projects that I’ve got going as a source of inspiration for 2008:
- Neighborhood project. By far, the project that I’m most excited about this year is the neighborhood exploration project that I started. I live in San Francisco, a city that is filled with distinct neighborhoods that each offer their own type of experience. Now that I’ve been here a few years, I stopped really getting outside of my comfort zone and found myself sticking to the same neighborhoods. The neighborhood project is designed to get me out and about again, learning my city. I chose one neighborhood per month and the goal is just to spend time there, to learn about it online and to find places there that I enjoy. For the first month, I cheated a bit on the definition of “neighborhood” and chose to explore the East Bay, primarily Berkeley, because I had some other things going on over there this month anyway. So far the best thing I’ve checked out there is Lake Chabot - and the hiking trails around it - in East Bay Regional Park.
- Hiking. This also helped jumpstart one of my other ‘projects’ which is to go hiking in a new spot at least once a month. I really believe that physical activity helps to rejuvenate the spirit and get your mind into a clearer place, something that is crucial to being able to write well.
- Milan Kundera project. I often say that Milan Kundera is one of my favorite authors. However, I’ve really only read two of his books and that was many years ago. This project consists of reading all of his books sometime in 2008. Unfortunately, I’m finding that I don’t seem to love the writing as much as I thought I did. I think it might be that I’m not in a mood for heavy writing this week though so I’m going to give it another chance again soon before dismissing the project. I may end up choosing another author in the end (Somerset Maugham comes to mind).
- Ryan Phillippe project. Likewise, I say that this is my favorite actor (Playing by Heart and Crash were favorite movies of mine) but I haven’t seen him in too many things. He has a diverse range of roles and I think it’s good to expose yourself to different creative mediums - such as film - so I’m going to check out all of his movies this year. This started with 54 which reinspired me to start checking out some of the art from that time period again.
- 20 wines project. I only became a wine drinker in the last couple of years so I don’t really know that many wines. I’ve been wanting to learn more about which ones I like and which ones I don’t. Maybe I’ll even start to notice which kinds go with which foods! My goal was to try twenty new wines this year … and to do some research learning more about them as well. I’m already way ahead on this project so I might need to modify it. Let the wine flow!
I believe that inspiration comes from a variety of sources. Writing is drawn from the experiences that we have in life. Fresh experiences translates to fresh writing. Besides, life is healthier and more exciting when you’re learning new things and having new experiences!
Question of the Day: What do you think of annual projects as inspiration throughout the year?
The above image is not mine. It is the mosaic collage art of Stacy Alexander, a Bay Area artist who works in a number of different mediums to create beautiful, clearly eye-catching work. Learn more about her from her interview at San Fran Voice.
Today I will write at least forty different articles on a variety of topics. People who first find this out are often aghast at the fact that I can write so much in one sitting. But this is my job. In order to survive as a freelance writer in the most expensive city in the country, I am forced to be prolific. As a full-time writer, I pride myself on my ability to continually craft original content that is researched and (hopefully) interesting while turning it out at a rapid pace. Mind you, I don’t always write so much in one day. But I regularly write a bulk of articles in one sitting. When you’re on a roll, you’re on a roll. And when you write to live, you make sure you get on a roll often.
But before I sit down to write those articles, I enjoy my morning routine. When I wake up, I read for a little while. This morning it was a book that I’m enjoying by a Bay Area author who fell in love with a Northern California inmate and writes to tell people how that happened. I brought my coffee to bed and read a chapter before getting up and doing the normal shower and breakfast thing. Then I did the morning work - the applications for new writing jobs, the checking email to make sure nothing needed immediate attention, the dash to the mailbox to send out what needs to go out this morning. Then came the second round of easing into the morning … the second cup of coffee, the journal writing, the making of the To Do list.
It’s eleven in the morning and I am only just about to get started on my workday. But this is the only way that I am prepared to work so intensively for so many hours. And before I do, I’ll make a collage. I don’t do this every morning, but it’s a regular part of my ritual. I usually find an inspiring quote amidst the morning reading or sometimes don’t come up with a quote at all. I sit at my desk with a selection of magazines, cutting out images as they inspire me. Then I arrange them together, sometimes adding the quote, taping them carefully on to a small piece of paper to make a miniature collage. I prop that up on my desk to look at it throughout the day, to remind myself that there is time for the little things.
I’m no artist. Creating these collages doesn’t meet some specific desire to create visual art. But that is precisely the point. What I am is a writer. When I sit down at the keyboard, I need to be focused. I need to remember that I am creating what will be the steps along the path of my career. What I am doing is working. I may love it, I may take pleasure in the projects, I may be prolific at least in small part because I thrive on what I do … but it is still work. I am lucky to love my work, but as with any job, it is sometimes a job. I am not an artist, and so I can sit down and create a collage and there is no pressure, no thought behind it, no concern for the resulting product. If I decide that I hate the piece, I flip the page and start anew the next day. I don’t care if it’s “good” or “bad” … I care only about the few minutes that it takes to make it, the minutes in which I am completely immersed in the physically creative process of crafting that collage.
I think every writer needs a second creative outlet. We need some sort of visual art, performance art, design work that we love to do but only as a hobby. We need a low-pressure way to explore the different things that we are thinking and feeling and experiencing in a way that doesn’t have to do with words. We need to wake up in the mornings and ease into our day doing something artistic that isn’t our work. This is the way that we refill the creative well, the way that we get ourselves ready to be prolific in our writing.
It’s time to do that now, but I have not forgotten the importance of the steps that come before.
[Tags] collage, art, writing, writer’s life, creativity, inspiration [/Tags]
I still have the first diary that I ever wrote in. It’s ridiculously cliche, but it’s a pink diary that originally closed with a lock and key. I was in fourth or fifth grade when I received it as a Christmas present and thus began the habit of chronicling my daily life. I haven’t always kept a journal consistently … there were years when I barely wrote anything at all … but I have never really stopped being a journal writer. At the beginning of this year, I was writing every single morning. Then the writing tapered off and I hadn’t written in my journal in a month until this morning. But whether I write often or rarely, journal-writing has continued to play an important role in my life as a writer.
I’ve gone through many stages of journal writing. Some of these stages are related to the frequency - or lack thereof - of the writing. Some of these stages are related to the mood of the journal (which can sometimes be evidenced by the type of journal or decorative cover that I’ve used on the notebook). And some of these stages are related to the specific way in which I write. Occasionally, I go back through these journals to read about some mostly-forgotten time in my life. Whenever I get lost on my path through creativity, I turn to the journals - starting new ones to help me get through the writer’s block and reading old ones to help remind myself of where I’ve been and where I want to be.
The frequency of my writing has always been an indication of my general state of mind. I cave in to the cliche that I write most frequently in my journal when I am unhappy or confused. This makes sense, because journal writing for me has always been a means of accessing a part of my emotional mind that I can’t seem to get to in any other way. Knowing that I am discontent, I turn to the page and pummel it out through aggressive language until I have revealed what the problem is. Sometimes it is even just the act of writing, not the words that emerge on the page, which provides the catharsis necessary for seeing the answer and moving forward in my life. But this isn’t to say that journal writing is unhappy. I do sometimes journal for the sole purpose of capturing the beauty of a moment that I know I will otherwise forget. I have been known to grab a pen and jot down a funny line in a random conversation just so that I can go back one day when I’ve forgotten that the conversation ever even happened and return to find it there.
In addition to changing frequency in my journals, there has also been a change in the journals themselves over the years. After that first pink diary, I moved on to writing in basic notebooks because I was eleven years old and couldn’t exactly afford anything else. Junior high was rough for me and I wrote every single day to cope with my life. At the end of those two years, I tore every page out of the notebooks and bound them together with yarn. I moved on to high school and rarely wrote any type of journal entry. I was busy, active in my social life and maintained a group of pen pals that served my writing needs. When I began journalling again at the end of high school, I turned towards those decorative journals that can be found lining the clean shelves of bookstores. I worked at a bookstore then and they beckoned. I would go out in search of exactly the right decorative journal that seemed to fit my mood at the time. Sometimes I wouldn’t finish one book before starting another because the heft and design of the journal didn’t “feel right”. The light blue seashell-dotted notebook with fragile handmade paper pages may have felt right when I was light and airy but didn’t work when tossed into a period of depression. The sturdy muted-tone journal lined with the outline of the world was perfect when I had been traveling on my own for work but didn’t suit the immobile me that came home to no job.
After a few years of money spent on the “right journals”, I started using notebooks again. The guy I was dating at the time wrote his journal entries in composition notebooks. When we took off together to travel the country, little cash in our pockets and no plans for income, it seemed to make sense to go his route with the cheap composition notebook instead of paying money for a leather-bound book. Whereas he always wrote in black-and-white notebooks with black ink, I favored colored composition notebooks. I would add a photograph or postcard to the front of the notebook to give it personality. Sometimes I wouldn’t select this image until the book had been almost completely written in, because I hadn’t quite gotten the feel for my mood yet. To this day, those are the journals that I use. The current one is a purple composition notebook. The image on front is a purple-ish postcard picked up at a music festival. It is of the trunk of a purple tree decorated with dancing bodies winding through it … and it speaks to where I was at at the time … dancing through my life contentedly but without a clear notion of where I was.
As the decorative images on the outside of my journals have changed, so has the way that I write within the pages of those notebooks. As a child, I poured everything out exactly as I was feeling it at the time. In junior high, I wrote more in bad poetry than actual full-blown thoughts, a testimony to the heightened emotions of that time. After high school, I poured confusion out on the page through scraps of thought. During a period when I was certain that a loved one was reading my journals, I began writing in a sort of code, writing with the thought that it was being read and often referring to myself only in the third person. Later, I wrote as though I was writing to someone I knew, trying to describe what I was feeling so that I could figure it out. These days, I write more pragmatically. Writing is what I do and I have become comfortable with that. I used to think that I had to write down the facts of everything that had happened, as though articulating it to someone who needed to know. While I still sometimes do this, it is more so I can see the progression of thoughts and activities. I write in my journal now for me and only for me. It is my safe place, my tool … and sometimes it is an annoyance because I want to want to write in it on days that I don’t.
Journal writing is an intensely personal experience. And it’s interesting because it’s a universal experience as well. We read famous journals to get insight into other ways and times of life. We find out that CEOs, fashion models, political leaders and homeless people all keep journals for reasons that are varied and often similar. It’s a fascinating art … and an ongoing interetsing part of my life. Tell me, why do you keep a journal - and what is that experience like for you?
[Tags] writing, writer, journal, creativity, diary [/Tags]
My favorite feeling in the entire world is inspiration. I love to be in love, I’m thrilled during days when I feel excitement, I’ve even been known to thoroughly indulge in immersing myself in red-hot moments of anger … but if I could only feel one feeling for the rest of my life, I would choose inspiration every single time. Inspiration is that hard-to-capture feeling of being simultaneously aware of your complete interconnectedness with the world around you and yet sure that your voice matters in the big scheme of things. It’s that feeling that you have been so touched by something in life that you are compelled to find a way to channel it through yourself and back out to others, to act as the prism for the light of creativity that surrounds you. Inspiration is why I get up in the morning and work.
And some days, I don’t “work” much at all. But for writers, days off aren’t really days off. Sure, you may take a break from writing (you may even take an unfortunately extended break from writing) but if you’re living life, you are collecting material. Most writer’s books or art guides that you’ll read (and I can say “most” because I have a penchant for such books and have read many of them) will tell you that you need to consistently replenish your creative well. I’ve heard it described in dozens of ways, but what it boils down to is that it’s perfectly okay to give yourself permission to not work and to just be … because for someone whose life work is creativity, just being is the same as working. Because when you are out observing and absorbing the world around you, you are placing yourself in a position that allows for inspiration.
I wrote poetry on the insides of my eyelids the other day as I wandered around SFMoMA. There was art of all kinds on the walls around me … urban drywall installations covering entire rooms, photographs of dancers captured in the height of their movements, scupltures by painters and paintings by sculptors … but I didn’t look too closely at any of it. Instead, I just wandered, meandering through the crowd that fills the museum on free admission day. People-watching. My eye was caught by an older woman dressed in bright blue, with a scarf to match tied around her hat. The hat was yellow straw but she could’ve been a member of the red hat society if her vibrancy was any clue. I eyed her for only a moment, lost her in the crowd and moved on.
The flecks of paint swirled around me on canvases encased carefully on the walls of the museum and crusted onto the jeans of the art students who critiquely walked the rooms. Momentarily, I met eyes with the strikingly bold irises of a student writer who was gathering material for the character for his next book. Or so I think he told me in the brief glance that connected our gazes before one of us turned away. I don’t remember anything about him other than the brightness of his eyes, made brighter by what seemed to be natural eyeliner rimming the bottoms of his lids. The funniest things will make impressions on you if you’ll let them. So I sat and I walked and I stood and I watched, soaking up what was around me without planning to turn it into any kind of writing. I was simply allowing myself to be filled up with impressions. I was refilling the artistic waters of my creative well. I was opening the door of my writer’s mind to the inspiration that I am always hoping will walk through it.
Not all days are good days, creatively speaking. But all of them have the potential to be.
