The Need for Creativity

It's been a while since I last posted, but I have been a busy bunny.

In the past few months I have taken up full-time work at a natural health store in the city where I live. It is a mixture of retail and something close to pharmacy. People come into the store and tell me what their problems are, and I see if I can help.

They have a cold, I recommend some supplements or nutrients for their immune systems. They are stressed, so I recommend maybe some Bach flower essences or herbal medicines to relax the nervous system. They are getting muscle cramps at night, so I advise magnesium tablets, etc.

It's good work.

Unlike writing, you have constant face-to-face contact with the people you are trying to reach and support. You get feedback too. I love feedback. It lets me know if what I am doing is working or not.

Though I have recently been published in The Art of Healing Magazine, Organic NZ Magazine, and The New Zealand Journal of Natural Medicine, these articles go out into the void and I never know if they have made a difference to the readers. But I do hope.

Asides from this good work, I am focusing once again on my poetry. After a long string of rejections in 2012, I am picking myself up off the kitchen floor and getting back into it. Rejections are hard. Every creative knows this. While at times it feels like a slap in the face, it is good for us. Or me, I should say. It reminds me that whether I am successful or not, good or not, publishable or not, I still have to write.

Why do I have to write?

Not long ago I had coffee with a friend of mine who is currently in employment by the local council. It's a good job and she worked long and hard to get there. But now she has little time for her creativity -- her botanical painting, and her knitting and sewing.  She told me, though, that she can't just give up because she has no time. Creativity, the will and drive to make something out of nothing, is in her -- and it is not going away.

I was glad to hear her say this, because I feel the same!

For the last few years the drive and passion for writing and storytelling has gripped me. It will not let go. And please God, don't ever let it. After a few weeks of no creativity, I start to bunch up inside. I snap at my partner, bark at our dogs, snarl at customers (well, on the inside, sometimes) and just feel downright cantankerous.

A few moments of pure, unadulterated writing is all it takes to transform me back into the zen-like creature I like to imagine I am most of the time.

Recently this all took place. After a few very long weeks of working over-time at the shop, I was feeling rather Orc-ish. One night after hissing at my boyfriend over something significantly trivial, I took myself off for a late night coffee and a session with my notebook.

Instead of writing about how bitter and terrible my life was, I started writing a story. It was a small story, a cute story, about nothing in particular, just a man searching for something -- I have yet to finish the story though, and find out if he reaches the end of that journey.

But that one night opened up the dam again. Ever since I have been writing pages and pages of notes, poems, stories, quotes, lists, etc. It helps. It helps so so much. I need it, the way a bubbling pot of newt eyes and bat wings needs the lid taken off once in a while to let off some steam.

I don't write because I want to be a writer. I write because I have no choice.

If it doesn't make life easy at times, it makes it interesting.

And isn't that better?

Help With Blogging

"If you’re not enjoying the journey, you probably won’t enjoy the destination." --Joe Tye, Life Coach


Some interesting articles have been surfacing through the blogosphere just recently, circling around the topic of "What Do I Do When I Would Rather Cut Off My Ears and Deep-Fry Them In Oil For Dinner Then Write Another Blog Post?" Well, if this sounds like you, even a little bit, here are some recent articles which handled this topic well in the last week.

"Discouraged With Blogging" by Blogging Without A Blog
"What to Do When Blogging Isn’t Fun" by BloggingPro
"101 Great Posting Ideas That Will Make Your Blog Sizzle" by Philip at I Help You Blog
"10 Creative Tumblr Blogging Ideas For When You Have Writers Block" by MakeUseOf

I know I found these quite helpful, so please enjoy! Happy blogging :)

Writers and Social Media

It is becoming more and more important for writers and artists to take an active role in the marketing aspect of their own careers. While many people might find this leap into the future challenging, I have always had one finger in the internet and its developments, so it seems like a natural path of progression. The internet is able to access so many people in such a small space of time. And it's free (most of the time).

Not to mention, I love the fact that I can receive messages and updates from my favorite authors, artists, editors, etc. They are not just disconnected entities existing somewhere, out there, who release a book every once in a while to tell the world that they are still alive. They are people - real people. While I am not so interested in what they ate for breakfast, it is great to feel connected to these people whose work touches, influences and inspires our lives.

Today on Writer Unboxed, guest blogger Crystal King is posting a delicious article about the benefits of joining LinkedIn (the professional network community) for writers. Its great, I love LinkedIn- and this article has helped inspire me to log back on, follow her advice and make it work for ME. Synchronizing it with things like FB and Blogger will help save time as well. Check out Crystal's blog post here. 

A Declaration of War

The Naysayer

Recently I had the experience of an unfortunate friend saying to me, "You can't really teach creative writing, it's just something you're born with."

Now, this was not the first time I have been faced with this sort of pessimism from friends, family or strangers. Most writers and artists will, at some stage, have comments like this thrown at them. 

The comment was made even more ridiculous by the fact that, I have learned creative writing. At school I was never particularly good at english, nor did I enjoy it. The rules around language skills were boring, if not disabling and mystifying . It wasn't till many years later when I attended creative writing courses at university that I (re)learnt rules around spelling, grammar and sentence structure that had mutated in my mind over time. 

Now many (if not most) of my bills are paid through freelance writing. I have made several professional sales of poetry. I've published articles on health, alternative medicine, relationships, pets, creative writing and book reviews.

Now, I am not the most famous writer in the world. I am learning new things all the time. There is so much to learn. Libraries are filled with books on writing techniques and craft. The internet is bursting with web sites and communities ripe with knowledge. Bookshops are made possible by writers who did not give up, did not listen, and decided to learn to write. 

I have learned, am learning, and this alone is proof that the societal myth around creative writing simply is that - mythology. 

The Myth

So why is it that so many people assume that writing is an innate, sacred gift, bestowed to the chosen few?

Well, for starters, there are stories of writers who became rich, famous and powerful after publishing their first ever novel. Stephanie Meyer is a good recent example of someone who had never written anything before publishing "Twilight", and hit the big time. 

Try this on for size: 30 famous authors whose works were rejected (repeatedly, and sometimes rudely) by publishers.

This whole experience of talking to my friend has gotten me so fired up, so incensed, so burning-hot-mad, I have decided to officially declare War.  

War on the naysayers.

War on the puny pessimists.

War on the creatively-crippled. 

Writing can be learned. Writing can be developed. Writing can be honed and crafted. 

The Plan

I am planning to post a series of articles and blogs on the process of writing, sharing exercises, tips and wisdom that I come across in the journey.I am going to share my own journey of learning to write (for the journey never, ever ends!) and in doing so, leave a trail of bread crumbs for others to follow. I am not proclaiming to be a guru, or an expert. Just a guy too stubborn to give up, or give in. 

Rather scribbling down an exact and formulated plan of action, this blog is going to be an organic and natural creative process. What needs to be written here come through inspiration, through conversation, through books, through projects I work on, through characters I invent or channel.

If there is a need for the knowledge to be communicated, I trust that it will find a way to come through. 

This blog is only one of many, many sources of information and help for those wanting to learn to write, or improve in their writing. 

Its a long, hard road. 
But nothing worth doing is easy.

Everythings and Nothings, with lots of Somethings

Life is a fantastic mesh of messiness, laughter and food sometimes. It's strange when it's all so wonderful, so unexpected, yet you still feel stressed and nauseous from exhaustion, because it's all so fast, so whirlwindish. I wouldn't change anything about my life these days - except to take it off the fast-forward button. 

In two weeks all my classes begin once more and I will be sent reeling into a world of editing, writing and painting. This is good. Right? Yes. Absolutely. Other bohemians will look positively banker-ish compared to how bohemian I've become. I just desperately hope that I have enough spare time for my boyfriend, my dogs and my poor, poor vegetable patch. 

The other day I recieved a little bit of news. Apparently another one of my poems has been selected to be published in a book. I know very little about this book, except that it is an anthology of local poets and that the book launch is suprisingly soon. The poem that was selected is called "Hansel & Gretel" and was written halfway through last year following a university english paper I did on fairytales, mythology and folklore. 

Right now my beloved boyfriend is making up some breakfast for me. I can hear the complaining spittle of oil in the pan, and wafting tendrils of smokey aromas are finding me here at my computer. I had best go and investigate just what he is up to. 

Later this week I hope to upload some new content, including a few book reviews (I have been absolutely book crazy these last two weeks!) and a post on "Finding the Writer's Voice".