I spent fourteen years as an author in training, and while I learned many things in that time, I’m finding there are a slew of different lessons on the other side of publication. This spring, I examined the public, private, and writing life I want to cultivate. Right now, I’m trying to learn just how to protect my creativity — how to let it grow and expand with a new project, how to feed it, how to keep it from being destroyed during the fragile moments a story is unfolding and finding its way. I’ve yet to figure this out, but here are a few things I’m pondering:
- It’s not the mind but the emotional self that gives us confidence or causes doubt. We are directly and indirectly taught the mind is a truer compass than the heart. And this is right oftentimes, especially for highly emotional people like me (and I would suspect most other writers, who tend to connect deeply and passionately with people, ideas, stories, and universal truths). The thing is, we writers know in our heads plenty of things that never penetrate our hearts. Whether we realize it or not, the emotional “truths” that occupy our lives influence our creative selves far more than we realize. How can we protect the vulnerable place stories spring from?
- Surround yourself with supportive people. Obvious, right? Find a friend or group of people who support and understand you. While non-writing friends and family are wonderful, they don’t always understand the writing world. Form a critique group. Become a part of a professional organization like SCBWI. Find people in the same phase of the journey you can encourage and commiserate with. Find people farther along who can show you the way.
- Step away from the constant noise of the Internet. Never before have authors been asked to live the writing life so publicly. As soon as a book sells, the solitary falls away. We’ve got to find ways to protect our creativity in the midst of it all. There are too many ways to lose confidence — reviews written by professional organizations as well as book bloggers or Goodreads account holders, articles in accessible publications like Publisher’s Weekly or GalleyCat that praise our peers or their books and leave us feeling left out, or publications that praise us but leave us feeling like we’ll never measure up again.
What are ways authors can protect their creativity?
Beautiful post, Caroline. I especially like the idea of protecting and connecting with the emotional self. To your list I’d add just general self care – eating and sleeping well, staying physically active, having other enjoyable pursuits besides writing.
Helen, excellent additions. Thank you! I hope all is well with you.