Don't let the woods be silent

Jurgen Wolff's Brainstorm E-Bulletin (July 2009) www.timetowrite.blogs.com relates a story which Michael Michalko - one of the top creativity gurus - told about his godfather, John Haffich, a poet who tried to encourage Michalko to write poetry. Michalko tried, but never felt they were good enough.

He picks up the story: "When he was in a nursing home and dying, I visited him and told him my thoughts about my inadequacies as a poet. He could barely whisper at the time and asked for a pencil and paper. He wrote the following poem and gave it to me with a smile."

Use what talents you have.
The woods would be silent
if no bird sang
except those that sang best.

Catalyst Online

Discovered a good resource in Writers News this month www.annarushton.co.uk/ including www.catalystonline.co.uk/ These are the websites of Anna Rushton and of particular interest to me is a section on 'Overcoming Creative Blocks and Barriers'. She has some great tips including:

Try saying to yourself; "I will just do 10minutes on my creative project, then I can stop and so something else." Just giving yourself permission can lead you to getting absorbed and involved in it again. If its not working then stop in 10minutes and if it is then stay with it!!

As for judging yourself, Anna says; All creativity comes from chaos, a divine spark, leave space to create in. Your creative project is your baby, so praise it, be delighted at any progress it has made and celebrate the fact it has happened at all.

Following on with the birth analogy; A woman in labour doesn't start thinking about the family's dinner or whether the mower needs repairing. She is focused on bringing in new life - you need to be focused on bringing your creative project to life.

And during your creating time; Never do anything else!! Treat your creativity with respect and don't allow your energy to be diluted with everyday administration. We are often concerned to be 'productive' so would rather do something than nothing. Creativity needs space and time to think, dream, prepare so don't dismiss this time as 'wasted'. It is 'seeding time' for projects and ideas and highly important.

Give yourself permission to create rubbish. Did Picasso produce a masterpiece the first time he picked up a brush? Creativity is about learning how to use your skills and talents to produce something from within you that you are proud of and that does not happen overnight. A diamond has to be cut and polished for its true beauty to be revealed and a diamond cutter has years of learning that skill - so take heart and don't give up because you think your work isn't good enough.

Thank you Anna

Be who you are and say what you feel

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr Seuss)

Leisure, by W.H. Davies

WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?—

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

http://www.englishverse.com/poems/leisure

Those are the books you never wrote....

Keith Waterhouse in Saga Magazine tells the story of a writer who goes to Heaven and finds himself in a beautiful library with books stretching into infinity.

‘And he says to the angel, “Whose are all these books?”
and the angel says, “Those are the books you never wrote”.

(Writing Magazine: June 2009)