A little advice for the stuck creative
There’s a meetup group that I’ve been attending for a few years now, The Stuck Creative. The premise of the group is to help creative people get their work done. The group is attended by people interested in pursuing a wide range of creative work including music, photography, art and writing. Most are having a hard time getting started with their work. Although I’m not stuck, I consider The Stuck Creative to be my support group for my writing.
Like any support group, it’s a gathering of people trying to solve a common problem. I receive practical tips like how to make room to write while managing life and the stressors that come with it. Routinely, we explore those psychological barriers to creative work such as wrestling with our inner critic. I learn a lot of from the leader and the group — especially those who have been certifiably stuck for a long time.
After the last meeting, I was chatting with the group leader and founder, Gary. I suggested that maybe the barriers to our creative work are the lofty ideals that exist about the creative process. Creative work is anything but lofty. After I shared some of my thoughts, Gary said “Gee, I wished you had shared some of these ideas with the group.”
Since then, I’ve had more time to think about it. Here’s what I would have shared with the group.
Every writer that I’ve met is also an avid reader; and every avid reader has a favorite author. When new to writing, it’s difficult to think of authors that we admire and not feel overshadowed by them. What we know of them is their finished product, their best seller and their sophistication and ease in talking about their breakthrough book which may have been many years ago. For some writers, it may be an author that is long deceased with books written decades ago. There’s no way to see them as ordinary–working all kinds of jobs just to survive, writing whenever they can, in spite of another rejection letter and few supporters.
My favorite author is James Baldwin. It would be impossible for me to write if I were to compare myself in any way to James Baldwin. I could never write like Baldwin. Not because I’m not good enough or skilled enough. It’s just that I’m not Baldwin. Baldwin has his own unique style and voice and I have mine. I just want to be the best writer that I can be. Continue to admire your favorite author, learn from them — but don’t be overshadowed by them.
We can’t be afraid of what writer Anne Lamott refers to as the shitty first draft. In her book Bird by Bird- Some Instructions on Writing and Life, she has a chapter entitled Shitty First Draft. When new to writing, you may think that lines should flow strait from our brain and appear perfectly onto the page. But it takes work to get ideas into a well-written form.
I don’t know that we approach other endeavors in this way — like going to the first Zumba class, first guitar lesson, first sewing project or even trying a new recipe. We expect that we will stumble along the way as we learn a new skill…and even have fun along the way. The first time I took a Zumba class, I laughed the entire time. I looked ridiculous trying to imitate the instructor and I wasn’t the only one. If only we could approach writing in the same way, from a place of freedom and joy.
The first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out and let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later. — Anne Lamott
We’ve been trained our entire lives to think of outcomes. Unfortunately, we tend to think of outcomes mostly in terms of a big payoff. Who doesn’t want to see their hard cover book displayed in the window of a large bookstore? Everyone wants to be a New York Times Best Seller or to have a blog post go viral. Not only does it do the ego good but it’s validating that people are reading our work. In my early days of attending The Stuck Creative, I once asked “What if I do all of this work and nothing comes out of it?” As a good leader, Gary answered my question by first asking me if I could see any benefits to writing on a daily basis — while I’m on the way to writing my first book. After waiting for him to give me an answer, I remember that he offered up that perhaps I was becoming a better writer.
It wasn’t until I committed to writing that I began to experience the tangible and intangible benefits of writing. Gary was right, my writing has improved over the years. I’ve learned more about the mechanics of writing and developing content. I’ve begun to see specific themes consistently showing up in my writing while discovering my voice.
There are other benefits to writing that are more personal and hard to measure. Writing helps me to make sense of this world and to understand my place in it. A few years ago, I created a mantra for why I write (shortened on my Medium profile): Life is a mystery and the world a beautiful and complex place. So I write to make my way through it. This is how I shall liberate myself and make my own heart happy. I find writing to be very calming — it is meditative and part of my spiritual practice. At the end of the day, don’t we want to become more skillful at something and to be happier in the world?
These are some of the things that come to mind when I think of my fellow writers and all the stuck creatives out in the world. When it comes to writing, see it as a practice that you keep coming back to again and again. Don’t focus so much on the dream that you would like to see come true. Instead, commit to writing and experience the tangible and intangible benefits along the way.
At the Writing Cooperative, our mission is to help each other write better. We’ve teamed up with ProWritingAid to do just that.
