Creative Process

I’ve been stuck on the precipice of blogging. I want to blog. I want to be a blogger. Blogging is different than journaling -- which for me has always been something that I thought I should do, but just never really did. Blogging is more like a conversation. Granted, it’s one side of a conversation with unknown counterparts who aren’t actually talking yet, but at least it’s tossed out there like an invitation. Journals are often meant only for the author, a private communication. Maybe I hear myself think too much already for that. I don’t have the patience to document all those complicated strands.

So, like a conversation, I think of blogging as very free-form, often spontaneous, capable of suiting any mood and timeframe. Very much like the creative process. So why am I on the precipice? I adore the creative process! Except, well, it turns out, that sometimes the process part kind of gets in the way. You see, I say that I love it, and I do! But then, when I sit down ready to be creative…I often try to just jump to the end. Write the perfect words, sing the perfect notes, craft the perfect scenario. No first attempts. No backspacing. I must wordsmith from the title and on down. It turns out that this is possibly unrealistic. [sigh]

Actually, all snideness (snidity?) aside, it’s not only unrealistic…it’s completely counter to the whole point of doing something creative! Half the fun, half the reward and nearly all of the leaning come from the process. It incredibly dumb of me, but I’m only just figuring out that the process is part of the process! Allowing half-formed thoughts and imperfect metaphors, acting out awkward reactions and fodder for improvisational moments, rambling a little, tripping up as I work in a physical gesture. All of these things just start the ball rolling and get the gears all oiled up. If I don’t allow that to happen, is it no wonder that I would be frustrated?

I have many more things to say on the creative process and what’s happening to it in our current environment. The pressure to be perfect from the start is getting higher. We need more freedom to fail in our education, our offices, and our lives. We need creative juices flowing and time to play with ideas. But I’ll save some of those for another day. For now, I believe that I will consider this my jump off the blogging cliff. That’s right! I’m posting without spellchecking! Wild and crazy am I! Here it goes…
written by Jen