Thursday’s inspiration
by Dame Eleanor Hull
“Learning to think of creativity as a long-term relationship is very helpful. There will be good days and bad days. That’s the nature of a long-term union and a far healthier level of expectation, one that is far more accurate, than demanding it provide honeymoon peak experiences every time. ‘But still it must take such discipline,’ I am frequently told.
“Actually, no. It doesn’t. I love words. I love playing with them. I love seeing what I can do with them and what they can do with me. A day when I write is a happy day.”
Julia Cameron, The Vein of Gold (New York: Tarcher/Putnam, 1996), 142.
i love this, playing with words is exactly what I think of myself as doing. And yes sometimes the playing is more fun and more fruitful than others.
Had a major breakthrough writing wise last night. Just wanted to share.
The first part is correct, but I disagree with the “it doesn’t take discipline” part. Because no matter how much fun you have doing what you do, it takes discipline to keep plugging away at times when the rewards seem remote. Also, long-term success at any creative pursuit takes discipline at continuing to push forward with the ancillary–but equally essential–components of a creative professional career besides the creation of work-product itself (unless you are either independently wealthy or have a wealthy patron to open-endedly bankroll your creative efforts).