There exists for the creative three general modes of being: not having done, doing, and having done. The first stage, of course, is the first; this is where we often stay the longest, where we struggle most, and where the greatest graveyard of all that has ever entered the human consciousness lies. What has not…
The Creative Process
It’s an elusive thing, isn’t it, what we call the “creative process”. Sometimes it eludes us altogether, and we don’t create as we should, as much as we should, or create at all. A while ago I came across three simple points that, to me, lay out a fair starting point for any creative process.…
Brilliant Ideas
I’m not the only one who holds on to ideas I think are brilliant, waiting for the right moment or place to do something with them. I fear letting them go from the safety of my mind, thinking there’s always a better way to bring the idea to life, there’s going to be a better…
Doubt
Doubt never leaves the persistent writer. Always the questions come and linger painfully, tauntingly. Sometimes for hours, weeks, years, a lifetime. They may suck the life out of one’s work, out of one’s existence, out of one’s joy and fulfilment in the act of creation. Am I doing what I’m supposed to? Is this any…
The Perfect Writing Place
Somewhere there’s a room with bay windows; brilliant sunlight streams in through satin curtains. A glorious vista–trees and mountains and streams–lies just beyond it. There’s an ancient bookshelf filled with well-loved books; walls tastefully decorated with pictures and quotes; piles of books and magazines beside the typewriter on the polished oak desk. Perhaps there’s even…