Take a shower … or the train

Take a shower … or the train

I have recently read / listened to a lot about creativity, how to get ourselves out of a dark spot, how to break procrastination, how to move forward with our story/poem, etc, etc, etc. It seems that everyone agrees on two points:

1.      Get yourself in a safe spot, a comfortable place where you feel relaxed, but also motivated/ able to write.

2.      You don’t have to write anything when you’re there for a while/ or write rubbish for as long as it takes.

But I would expand on that second point and add:

3.      Do not, under any circumstances, absolutely do not distract yourself from doing nothing / writing rubbish. So, social media, Youtube videos, podcasts, etc. are completely, absolutely, definitively, non-negotiably FORBIDDEN.

 

 

Basically, all you have to do is get yourself into a safe place. That safe place can also be an activity that doesn’t require too much of your brain power. It can be walking the dog, gardening, ironing or whatever else you can do on ‘autopilot.’

 

It is in those moments that you allow your creative subconscious to work on whatever problem is bothering you and that needs to be resolved. It’s no coincidence that so many of us have had their best ideas in the shower. It is a time when we simply focus on the water. All other senses, thoughts are left to themselves, allowing our subconscious to work on those hard tasks of creativity.

 

I can attest to the veracity of all these points:

1.      Find the perfect spot
 For me, that is the train. I take the train to work every morning. It is a 45-50 minute ride with patchy internet coverage. I pause my podcast when I board the train, take out my notebook, write the date on the next blank page and…..

 

Well, it depends. If I’m in the middle of a scene/idea that I’m working on, I write like a fury.

But, more often than not, I’m stuck or completely drained of any creative notions. That is when I do one of two things:

a.      I stare out the window. I do not stress, I do NOT go back to my podcast. I simply look out the window, notice how the flame tree has lost all its flowers so quickly this year, how seasons change so quickly, how life goes by so quickly, how my character is afraid of death.
You get the point. Because I allowed my brain to roam freely, it did! And made the necessary connotations and led me back to my story.

b.      I look at the blank page in front of me and start writing whatever comes into my head. I can’t tell you how many times my first sentence has been: ‘I don’t know what to write.’ I basically force myself to write down whatever thoughts I have at the moment. Very, very often they are the self-flagellation type of thoughts regarding my lack of talent, perseverance, commitment, etc.
Once I’m through with lashing my fragile ego, I start writing about what has caused my current block, what problem in the story I don’t seem to be able to resolve. For example, I write about how my main character seems to be going through a crisis, but I lack the words/emotional depth/experience to put it on paper. Ok, so there is a bit more self-flagellation going on here, but it is moving in the right direction, towards my story. Depending on how much time this has taken, I might have arrived at my end destination, and I stop writing. If I am still a few stations away from my stop, I might keep writing some more about my character and actually, as they often say, write myself into the story. I discover something about the character I would have never discovered had I not kept writing and writing and writing. Because I have now arrived at my destination, I have not written that much. No matter. I have set myself up for tomorrow’s train ride when I will be able to continue where I stopped and will be able to write like a fury.

2.      You don’t have to write anything
This is, of course, covered in the above explanation.

3.      No distractions
It is absolutely vital not to engage your brain in other activities during this period. If you give in and check that inbox or Instagram updates, you will be there for the next 20-30 minutes, and the opportunity will be gone. I have done this more than once, still do. I tell myself I need to check the weather urgently, but when I get out my phone, I accidentally click on something else, which leads to something else, etc. You know the drill. I’m pretty sure it happens to most of us.

I can give you the opposite example as well. I was on the magic Magnetic Island where I do not have phone reception. One day, I locked myself out of my Airbnb. My friend who had the second key wasn’t going to be back for hours. I only had my phone on me. What was I going to do for the next 3-4 hours? I was panicking. I walked up and down the beautiful beach in a frenzy. I sat down on a bench. I noticed the dappled shade the palm tree gave me. I looked at the glittering spray of the water. I listened to the gentle lap-laps of the ocean kissing the beach. I was calm. I knew what to do.
I went to the only store in the village, bought myself a pen and a notebook. I went back to the bench under the palm tree, I admired the sparkling sea and the clear sky. I pulled up my legs on the bench, put the notebook on my thighs and started writing. Withing a few minutes, while writing about my experience with the sea and the sky and the palm, I was ready to dive back into my story. That very day I figured out that my current story structure wasn’t working and that I needed to re-arrange my scenes differently.
Since then, whenever we go back to Magnetic Island, my friend and I choose to stay at a place that does not have wifi.

 

I hope this is inspirational enough for you to try these methods out for yourself.

 

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