the Artist's Way - Week Twelve - Day Two

Creativity, like life, begins in darkness. This needs to be acknowledged. All too often we think in terms of light. We say, "Then the light bulb came on, and I got it." It's true that insights may often come in flashes. They may even be blinding, but it is also true that these ideas are preceded by a gestation period that is internal, murky, and completely necessary.

Most of the time when we say we want to be creative, we mean we want to consistently creative, like machines. As creative channels, we need to trust the darkness and learn to gently mull, instead of churning out ideas like a little conveyor belt trying to meet production quota.

Hatching an idea is a lot like baking a cake. Open the oven too soon and the cake gets a hole in the middle because all the steam rushed out of it. Creativity requires time. Let your ideas grow, let them form on the roof of your consciousness, and then let them drop like light rain showers onto the page.

Free writing is one way to open your mind and let the ideas drop slowly or even in a flood onto the page. Something magical happens when you just let ideas pop out of your subconscious with no care of what form it may come.

Take thirty minutes today to free write. You may do this by computer or by hand. Set a timer and just jot down anything that comes to mind. At the end of thirty minutes, set your results aside and let them grow.