Letting Your Out There Out
“For example, this crazy ruffled tee is probably too out there to sell in either store. It's a little rugby-meets-beauty pageant. But I really liked making it. It felt silly and creative and exciting. I haven't felt that feeling in a while.”--Jen Schneider
I’m finally done with the teach-at-two-schools thing. I’m committed now to teaching just at the Colorado School of Mines, which is my favorite of the 40+ jobs I’ve had so far.
Now that my life is less stressful and I’m on summer break for about two weeks (though I have to plan the upcoming semester) I thought, Now I have to get some serious writing done. I began thinking about finishing stories and trying to get them published and that—well, that killed any sort of creativity I might have mustered.
Yesterday I was reading my colleague’s blog for inspiration about blogging. And I was so interested to see her drama with creativity. I hadn’t realized she was selling her sewn wares:
See, I haven’t been interested in sewing for weeks now. Knitting either. Which is pretty weird for me, yeah?
And I’ve been thinking, maybe it’s because it became something else I had to do. Another item in a long to-do list. The stores needed stuff to sell, and I had to make that stuff. Needed, had to. Not my favorite words, always.
I’ve also been thinking that it’s because I started thinking more about what I thought would sell than what I felt like making. I know it shouldn’t have affected me, but it just sort of quashed my creativity. I don’t totally understand this, but it happened.
Like my colleague whose decision to quit sewing for the stores set her needle a-wild, I recently had a parallel sort of experience. I decided to shift my focus away from writing clever, publishable stories to applying for PhD programs in environmental studies and ethics. That’s when the creativity came back and now I’m writing. I’ve written in little hour-like spurts for about a week now. I’m writing because I want to again, not because I need product to propel my professional life.
Holy cow! How exciting to be on your blog! Thanks, Shira! And it’s good to know I”m not alone in this experiment with creativity.
P.S. We’re friends, silly. Colleagues, but also friends. I think so, anyway.
P.P.S. I didn’t know you’re applying for PhD programs. Cool!
I’m so glad we’re friends! I’d love to apply to PhD programs, in part to be more like you. Then again, the decision to apply to PhD programs got my creativity back so maybe I got enough from that darn degree already?
How cool is it for me to wake up today and see two of my favorite people with two of my favorite blogs quoting and talking to one another!
Can’t wait to hear more about the Phd application-creativity-hour-like-spurts-process!
We’ll talk about it all while SWIMMING!
The best time to write is always when we have something else to do, I think. We’re like cats in that way, drinking from the dripping bathtub faucet after our masters have filled our water bowls. Good call on the Ph.D programs, btw; I’m already thinking about such an avenue, and I’ve still got a year of grad school left!
I love being a cat with you and the dripping faucet tastes much more delicious than the tub water. Don’t you think? I would consider the PhD as a last resort!
*purr*
Nora Ephron says that bathroom water is either colder or better than any other water in the house, and as I cat, I have to concur. As long as it inconveniences my owner as much as possible, because we deserve respect, yes?.
Ph.D programs are kind of last resort, I suppose – I guess I’m crossing my fingers for an economic turnaround in the next six years, or however long it takes to earn a Ph.D. Perhaps it’s too early to be worrying about such things.
It’s nice to be a barking cat again.
Sam, I don’t know which is sexier: that you purr or that you paraphrase Nora.
:-)
Cool to hear that you’ve decided to apply to PhD programs!
You know how my “decisions” go.
I once had a conversation about creativity with Linda Lael Miller–a mystery and romance writer I like–and she said that creative souls will always find an outlet for their need to be creative. The problem is that sometimes we allow it to be things like taking on projects for organizations or other people. We had this conversation at a conference I had organized–which was way too much work–and I was complaining about how working the conference was taking away from my time to write. Linda also said this is why artists do things like organize their office or kitchen drawers when a deadline is coming up. (I thought those tasks were an indication of the anal side of my personality, not the creative one.)
Anyway, I always find myself more creative when I do stuff for pleasure rather than because I have to get things done. I also find that unless I have a deadline for something, I never get any creative work done. And, that the closer it gets to that deadline, the cleaner and more organized my office is.
Oh, Asa, I should have talked to you a couple of weeks ago. I seem to currently be in taking-on-projects-for-organizations-and entities-that-I-like mode. Yikes! I must find a way to salvage some little trickle of creativity. What do I do now?
Shira, I don’t know how to stop it. I just feel better knowing this behavior labels me as a “creative person.” :-)
What has helped me is picking projects that I get something out of. They don’t necessarily have to give me a direct benefit, sometimes just feeling good about helping is enough. But, if they help my writing, even if it’s just through networking, I’m more likely to take them on.
Okay, first of all – cats are not creative, people who invent lolcats are.
I had to look up lolcat. I love that those inspiring cat posters have a name. This is the first use of “lol” that I have found appealing.