27 Feb 2005 @ 23:51, by Craig Lang
Tired old cliches can be such fun... :-)
In reality, I am finding that, while fun, writing is not always easy. When one tries to channel creativity into an actual work, one finds that it does not come quite as easily. And so it is with my current project.
I am now taking my second class at The Loft, a writers' workshop in Minneapolis. My first class was a survey of various writing styles. I loved it and found that during it writing came easy. Also, during that time I made alot of progress on my SF novel, "The Fifth Key", which is a story about UFO abduction.
This term, I am taking a class called "How to Write a Novel". What I'm finding is that it is a lot more difficult. The primary thing is that the focus is on getting something done, producing a defined work. Gone is the write-when-and-what-you-feel-like-it freedom that has always worked so well. Now, the emphasis is more on process and structure. It is a how-to class. And I find that if the focus shifts to process, the flow of ideas is reduced. I think that's often where people get writer's block...
This is the same thing that I have found during other thought and consciousness exercises including PSI experiments, remote viewing, etc. When one tries to push the flow, the flow actually decreases. For me, the real lesson is that it is necessary to go with the flow, rather than to drive the flow from the ego level. Allow ideas to come, rather than going out and chasing them...
This is a lesson that I keep coming back to - again and again. My soul-self keeps asking - Craig, when will you learn? And so I wonder if the "dark and stormy night" that I joked about above isn't actually the turbulence of my own creative flow. Maybe it is an inner part of myself learning how to accept ideas from the collective unconscious into a creative work. If so, then perhaps that is the first light of dawn that follows the "dark and stormy night". Perhaps that is where the real answer resides.
|
|
