Saturday
Aug092008
The creative process
Saturday, August 9, 2008 at 3:06PM
As anyone can tell you, anyone at all, Creativity cannot be turned on and off like a light switch. Small children can tell you this. Elderly Alzheimer's patients can tell you this. And now, I will tell you.
Creativity cannot be turned on and off like a light switch. Or any kind of switch, for that matter. Not like a press-button on your blender, not like a dial knob, not like the electronic key pad on your microwave.
I've discovered that Creativity does not like The Deadline. In my universe, The Deadline is like a Ringwraith from Lord of the Rings.
Creativity is the timid pixie who flies away and locks herself in her room as soon as she hears The Deadline approaching.
Let's see, The Deadline vs. Creativity... who do you think usually wins?
Toughie.
As bewitching as Creativity is, she's no match for the evil force of The Deadline.
She comes out when she feels like it, she stays as long as she likes, and she only hangs around certain people. You have to be open to having her visit. You have to like having her around. Most importantly, you have to DO stuff with her. If you ignore her when she knocks on your door, she won't come back for a long, long time. The nicer you are to her, the more attention you lavish on her, the more she likes to stay for tea.
Sometimes, she disappears inexplicably and no amount of coaxing will change her mind. She'll show up when you least expect her to. (Likely, at the most inconvenient time. The middle of the night, perhaps.)
Creativity, here she is again, , once came to see me at 4:00 am on Christmas morning.
She wanted to encourage me to roll out a giant swath of paper on the floor of my 400 square foot apartment and handpaint some gift wrap.
"Butbutbut," I protested, "I already purchased gift wrap and have already wrapped the gifts with it. I spent a lot of money on wired ribbon and everything."
(Back story: I was in college. In college living in a 400 square foot apartment. Attending college while working two jobs to pay for the tiny apartment. I got the giant roll of paper for free from one of the jobs I worked while trying to pay for college.)
"Fine," said Creativity. "But you know you want to. Of course, it's your decision, but you do have those paints over there... and the gifts would really look SO delightful wrapped in handpainted paper under the Christmas tree while everyone sips hot cocoa and the carols are playing and the candles are glowing. Too bad you don't feel like it..."
What do you think I did?
I'll give you four and a half seconds to think about it.
Of course. I painted the paper. Of course I did. Creativity is extremely compelling when she wants to be. And also, I am weak.
Perhaps I should revisit this topic after you have removed your contacts and your eyes aren't feeling quite so dry from reading excessively long posts on a computer screen. Perhaps a little
would help? I see from looking at this picture that Visine has trademarked the phrase "Gets The Red Out."
Isn't that fascinating?
Don't you care deeply about things like this?
The other day, I bored some people I had just met to tears. TO TEARS. (Actually, maybe they were fake Visine tears.) The pressing question of the day was, "Why does prime time TV start at 8:00 pm on the coasts of the US, but at 7:00 pm in the center of the US?"
The things that keep me up at night. Hand painting wrapping paper and the timing of prime time TV.
I will definitely come back to Creativity. Possibly tomorrow. I have much more to say, but I think we've had all the bad analogies and unimportant questions we can handle for one afternoon.
Keep reading about creativity here.
Creativity cannot be turned on and off like a light switch. Or any kind of switch, for that matter. Not like a press-button on your blender, not like a dial knob, not like the electronic key pad on your microwave.
I've discovered that Creativity does not like The Deadline. In my universe, The Deadline is like a Ringwraith from Lord of the Rings.
Creativity is the timid pixie who flies away and locks herself in her room as soon as she hears The Deadline approaching.
Let's see, The Deadline vs. Creativity... who do you think usually wins?
Toughie.
As bewitching as Creativity is, she's no match for the evil force of The Deadline.
She comes out when she feels like it, she stays as long as she likes, and she only hangs around certain people. You have to be open to having her visit. You have to like having her around. Most importantly, you have to DO stuff with her. If you ignore her when she knocks on your door, she won't come back for a long, long time. The nicer you are to her, the more attention you lavish on her, the more she likes to stay for tea.
Sometimes, she disappears inexplicably and no amount of coaxing will change her mind. She'll show up when you least expect her to. (Likely, at the most inconvenient time. The middle of the night, perhaps.)
Creativity, here she is again,
, once came to see me at 4:00 am on Christmas morning.She wanted to encourage me to roll out a giant swath of paper on the floor of my 400 square foot apartment and handpaint some gift wrap.
"Butbutbut," I protested, "I already purchased gift wrap and have already wrapped the gifts with it. I spent a lot of money on wired ribbon and everything."
(Back story: I was in college. In college living in a 400 square foot apartment. Attending college while working two jobs to pay for the tiny apartment. I got the giant roll of paper for free from one of the jobs I worked while trying to pay for college.)
"Fine," said Creativity. "But you know you want to. Of course, it's your decision, but you do have those paints over there... and the gifts would really look SO delightful wrapped in handpainted paper under the Christmas tree while everyone sips hot cocoa and the carols are playing and the candles are glowing. Too bad you don't feel like it..."
What do you think I did?
I'll give you four and a half seconds to think about it.
Of course. I painted the paper. Of course I did. Creativity is extremely compelling when she wants to be. And also, I am weak.
Perhaps I should revisit this topic after you have removed your contacts and your eyes aren't feeling quite so dry from reading excessively long posts on a computer screen. Perhaps a little
would help? I see from looking at this picture that Visine has trademarked the phrase "Gets The Red Out."
Isn't that fascinating?
Don't you care deeply about things like this?
The other day, I bored some people I had just met to tears. TO TEARS. (Actually, maybe they were fake Visine tears.) The pressing question of the day was, "Why does prime time TV start at 8:00 pm on the coasts of the US, but at 7:00 pm in the center of the US?"
The things that keep me up at night. Hand painting wrapping paper and the timing of prime time TV.
I will definitely come back to Creativity. Possibly tomorrow. I have much more to say, but I think we've had all the bad analogies and unimportant questions we can handle for one afternoon.
Keep reading about creativity here.
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Reader Comments (6)
The question about prime time TV is very important. You see I am in the center so let me just say that 7pm is entirely too early. Don't people know that children aren't in bed that early and my 4 hooligans really interrupt my TV watching experience.
But did you rewrap all those packages? I think I would have put the paper on the wall, like a mural. College does strange things to us.
Creativity must be answered, even when small children want to draw a picture, on the wall, with crayon and "old fashioned" markers, at 4:00 in the morning. That would be EST.
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