art is not science

On another note. I'd like to share a story about creativity. I've been taking creative writing classes for the last year. My inner English major had some angst and needed an outlet. But since I've been unemployed, I've had the worst case of writer's block yet. It's maddening to be unable to do something that you like to do. For months, I'd thought if I only had time, I could write hundreds of stories and either improve my ability to tell stories or make my husband crazy from having to read them. And suddenly I was granted time....unemployment! And suddenly, no matter how hard I tried, nothing would come out. I would agonize over a half of a page of writing that was absolute crap. It was maddening.

So I went to my friend's house for a drawing lesson. I'm a terrible drawer (and for years I thought that this was a skill you are born with, but now I realize that it is like writing...you can be born with talent, but everyone can improve by working on skill). So we sat down and sketched for a few hours. In the process of sketching, my friend gave me tips and feedback. I spent too much time on the details and not enough time drawing the broad strokes at the beginning, so once my sketch was complete, it was entirely out of scale.

I took that to heart and tried again. My sketches improved (though certainly not enough to merit a new career in drawing) and I felt great about it. As I drove home, I thought about drawing the broad strokes and realized that my writing had suffered from the same malady. I spent too much time on the details before I'd sketched out the broad strokes of the story. I needed to take a step back and think about the whole of the story before writing every little detail in. The detail could be filled in later.

At home, I sat and wrote for nearly 8 hours. Not that I'm writing a masterpiece mind you, but my writer's block is gone (at least temporarily) and I learned that art feeds art. Art comes in so many shapes and sizes and it's good to challenge yourself in a multitude of areas to rekindle that creative spark. I was thrilled and just had to share. There's my creative story for the week. Or the day.