I’ve decided to do a new series of blog posts on creativity. So far, it’s a work in progress, but I thought I’d share something I have learned recently to get the ball rolling.
In November of 2008, I finished “The Immortality Virus” and had no idea what I wanted to do next. I had pushed myself to write every day, using the old BIC (butt in chair) advice as I trudged through three different revisions and subsequent editing. At the same time, “Touch of Fate” had been out for a year and promotional opportunities were dwindling. Basically, I was burned out. (You may have noticeda huge gap in blog entries.) I wasn’t even sure I wanted to be a writer anymore.
So I made a momentous decision. I would quit writing for a year, with te alternate goal of reading one book each week (on average) in 2009.
For three months, I followed this plan to the letter, but then something strange happened. I began to miss writing.
It started as a little niggling in the back of my mind, but the more I pushed writing away, the more insistent it became. Finally, one day, lying on the floor of the nursey playing with my then 9-month-old daughter, I had an idea.
I sat bolt upright, startling Celeste, as the details began to fill in. It was a character — the heroine (for a few minutes, she was a he) was a paranormal investigator who didn’t have any magical powers. Who was she? Where did she live? Did she have any romantic interests? The ideas began to snowball until Celeste finally went down for her nap and I could type them out properly.
Over the next two months, with no goals, no BIC requirements, and no pressure, I outlined my entire 4-book series. Then, again without any pressure, I began to write.
Book one literally spilled from my fingertips. I have never in my life been so actively engaged in a book. It drove me. I wrote thousands of words a day and had a draft of it in less than a month, a draft worth of critique a month after that.
Then do you know what I did? I sent it off to my readres and went back to reading books. At least one a week (usually more to make up for my 4-month gap).
By the end of 2009, not only had I read more than 50 books, but I had a complete, marketable novel and an early draft of its sequel. (The sequel is currently out with critiquers.)
Do I have a point? Yes — I’m getting there!
Creativity stiffles when you try to force it. If you’re meant to be a writer, then you’re going to write. The story won’t let you do anything else. That’s not to say that BIC doesn’t have its place (especially in the editing and marketing phases), but there has to be a balcne. Writing a novel is not a fully quantitative process. Word count goals are meaningless if the worrds coming out are crap.
One of the 50+ books I read was “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. I love the ideas she had for learning to enjoy life and to reignite that creative spark. I intend to use some of her suggestions as I put together some ideas on creativity — what it is, where it comes from, and how to unlock it.
Stay tuned!