Telling Herstories: The Broad View

CYCLES: THE RHYTHM METHOD

Woman Carrying Water," by Leslie Frances, Innisfree, Lake County, Northern California, clay sculpture

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I got rhythm, I got music. I got my [work].
Who could ask for anything more?

by George & Ira Gershwin

Runners know it as “hitting stride.” Musical combos know that the drummer drives the beat. Painters know that rhythm and recurrence are the guidelines of good composition. Dancers know that without rhythm, they’ll fall. Actors, storytellers, and comedians know that it’s all about the rhythm of pacing and timing to reach the audience. The heart knows that a syncopated rhythm spells trouble.

Creatives know that to come to terms with the cycles that surge through our lives, we must study our rhythms. Only then can we learn how our rhythms are formed and the most skillful way to respond to them.

In this final “Cycles” post we’ll discuss two of these skillful means. The first exercise is linear and logical. This is our left brain at work. The second exercise draws strongly on our emotional and intuitive worlds to include our right brain.

Method 1: Logging Your Day (Left Brain)

Logging or simple listing is a familiar activity if you’ve tried to manage your time better or sought to recall what you put into your mouth. Don’t make logging any harder than you need to. Nothing fancy, okay?

1) List what you do each hour or short chunk of the day. Were you writing? Answering email? Reading? Researching? Playing solitaire? Watching television? Walking? Eating? Washing the car? Paying your bills? Chatting on the telephone?

2) How much time did each activity take? Keep track without judgment.

3 ) Choose a time to review the log. Study the list and analyze what category it falls into. Survival (like paying bills and eating)? Mindless procrastinating (like playing solitaire because you are bored)? Relaxing or resting to recharge (like walking)? Creative forward movement (like writing, reading, researching)?

4) Notice which activities gave you pleasure. Which ones moved you further and which hindered your goal of being a working writer?

5) How do internal and external factors affect your rhythms? Do your inner and outer worlds mesh or snag each other?  Without enough exercise, or sleep, or emotional satisfaction, or good nutrition what happens to your mood, health, and creative productivity?

 6) Shift your schedule. Decide which activities you’ll stop doing or start doing. Which ones will you do more of or less of?

Method 2: If you are conflicted: Cross-Hand Dialogue (Right Brain)

You’ll find the complete description of cross-hand dialogue in Lucia Capacchione’s fine book “The Power of Your Other Hand: A Course in Channeling the Inner Wisdom of the Right Brain”  (http://www.luciac.com/books/bookpages/PowerOtherHand.html)

Briefly, here’s how: 

1)  Assemble these tools: large paper (butcher paper or newsprint is good) and crayons. These are optional, but allow you greatest freedom.

2)  Draw a line down the center of the page. On one side you’ll write with your dominant hand (the hand you write with and use most actively). On the other side you’ll respond with your non-dominant hand.

3)  Choose a question you want to know more about. For instance: I feel in conflict over the things I must do and my writing. Help!

4)  Pose the question with your dominant hand. Reply with your non-dominant hand and so forth until you come to a resolution within you.

5)  When you write with your non-dominant hand, write boldly. Don’t be concerned, even if you can read it then. You can use what I call “inter-linear translation” later by going back and clearly printing what’s written. But knowing what’s written isn’t what’s most important. You know it in your gut. Writing with the other hand draws forth strong emotions, thus making your conflict more clear and the resulting resolution more possible.

Make friends with your rhythm and don’t sabotage it. In entering new territory by setting a new goal or solidifying a new habit, be patient. Slow progress works. Eventually, the rhythm method keeps your creative life in balance.

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This third post is the last one in “Cycles.” See: Creative Cycles Keynote (February) and Creative Cycles: Balancing Act (March )to read the complete series. See the Creative Catalyst archive at: http://storycircle.typepad.com/scn/creativity/

Column written by Janet Grace Riehl of St. Louis in collaboration with Stephanie Farrow in Albuquerque.

Pose questions about practical creativity; give ideas for future cycle themes; and join in the dialog in the comment section below.

Go to www.riehlife.com to sign up for a free download of a 10-minute audio from “Sightlines: A Family Love Story in Poetry and Music.”

CREATIVE CYCLES: KEYNOTE

(Photo courtesy of Leslie Frances, Lake County, California sculptor.)

The pattern I've established in this "Creative Catalyst" column for our SCN blog is to work in theme cycles. First, I write a keynote post introducing the theme, then follow with two more posts to explore it more deeply. Our first cycle was the general topic of creativity.

The keynote post, "What Is Creativity, Anyway?,” introduced and defined the topic. It was followed by looking at what it takes to be a serious writer, Building a Creative Practice: Not for Wimps". We concluded that first cycle with "Working from Source in Your Creative Practice," investigating the inside-out story in our creative lives. In response to reader comments, our next theme is a three-part conversation about cycles.

Creative cycles include both inward/outward and upward/downward swings. We need to be able to make sense of these cycles. We must discover how to balance the extremes of the swings and the continuum between.

How can we move forward with our creative lives while performing this tricky balancing act? We need to figure it out if we are to keep our creative flame burning over a lifetime—and if we are to maintain our well-being and sanity!

 What do I mean by the inward and outward cycle?

First, there is a natural hibernation or incubation period when nothing shows outwardly—no poems, no first drafts, no query letters. If we live our creative lives with integrity, usually we can tell the difference between just goofing off and holding something precious inside of us. Think of it as being pregnant with ideas and feelings. Eventually, as we bring the fruits of incubation into the world with active work, they develop into writing. This aspect of the inward and outward cycle has been widely written about.

Secondly, there is the going out into the world to gather experience and then the coming back inside our cozy nesting place to harvest the experience. This aspect of the in/out cycle isn’t often addressed specifically. Many creative people tend to be more on the introspective side, but generally we love going out to lap up the world and its riches—in our own way. As we talked about in “Building a Creative Practice,“ the muse needs nurturing. You have to have something to write about before you can write!

Thirdly, there is the inward time in the study when the writer is perfecting her craft. Writing the book and perhaps publishing; harvesting journal pages to create a poem. Again, we go inward to gestate the work, then bring it forward to share with the world. This cycle is built in to the creative process for even the most private of writers. Publishing isn’t a requirement; we may just want to read the work to a friend, story circle, or family.

What of the upward and downward cycle? I suspect this needs little explaining, as everyone has experienced this. Generally, we can identify the up/down cycle in the ebb and flow of our energy and mood. There are times when we feel fragile and vulnerable, needing to protect and conserve our energy. There are other times when we feel strong and confident, ready to produce like gangbusters and holler, "World, here it is!"

Though they can be coaxed to move along, these cycles must be respected. For if we violate the inward and outward movement of the life of our soul, our creative impulse scoots down the rabbit hole.

These cycles of inward/outward and up/down are part of the cycle of nature…part of the dance of life between the receptive and generative energies. In our next post, we'll discuss the inward and outward cycle more and give a few clues about how to approach these dips and dives. If you have comments or questions, please join in the dialog below or send me a private message at www.riehlife.com

 

Working from Source in Your Creative Practice

Goddess with Gift Basket

Oh, those romantic notions about creativity. The best writers hang out in coffee houses, smoking foreign cigarettes, and wearing a hat, right?

Hardly! In practical creativity, externals don’t matter. Pretension doesn’t work. What matters is this: What's inside you, and are you willing to work to pull it out? So cut the shuffle and ditch the beret; there's no place to hide.

Last month we discussed how to create a sustainable practice, dedicating scheduled time and space to your writing. The next step is to tap into your creative source How do you go about it?

Inspire yourself.

As Thomas Alva Edison did, I believe that genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. The good news is that we can build inspiration into our practice. Inspiration is something we can and must generate for ourselves. Without it, your writing will be a very occasional happening.

Interview yourself.

To set yourself up for inspiration requires that you do the same thing you did in setting up your writing schedule. Take a look at your personal preferences, your likes and dislikes. You’ll stir up your creative juices by generating satisfying, stimulating activities.

Ask yourself about yourself and think of potential activities. Are you…

• Visual? Make a collage or do mind-mapping.
• Movement-oriented? Walking, yoga, or bicycling may be creative openers.
• Reflective? Try contemplation and meditation.
• Musical? Play the piano. Or wash the dishes listening to your iPod.
• Moved by ritual and ceremony? Light candles and say a little prayer.
• Responsive to the outdoors? Go to the park; bring bits of the outdoors inside.

You can brainstorm other ideas. It’s not any particular activity that’s important. Choose one that takes you to that place where you’re inspired to dig deeper—that 1 percent of inspiration that makes the 99 percent of perspiration worth it.

There’ll be days when you don’t feel inspired at all. It’s not cheating to use a commercial prompt, many of which are available for under $20. For example, for the card deck and kit lovers among us, check out:

• Observation Deck:A Toolkit for Writers by Naomi Epel.
• Freaking Magic Playing Cards David Robertson made from his photos and text.
• Magical Muse Cards by Hal Zina Bennett.

Try adapting cards designed for another purpose like the Mexican lotería cards. A friend wrote an entire poem cycle by drawing a card every morning.

Even better, make your own cards using photos, sayings, phrases, and images. It’s a popular activity I’ve done with writing students. Even though they make the cards themselves, they’re always surprised that the cards take them places they hadn’t anticipated.

Thinking inside the box isn’t always a bad idea. Make containers that act as brainstorming friends.

• Cut ideas into strips in advance, then draw them from a basket when you’re feeling stuck; or,
• Pack a suitcase or lunch box with anything that strikes your fancy: old calendars, postcards, or “go-to” books. (One of my favorites is If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland.). Add inanimate objects to your inspiration box. They're silent but you’ll bring your own words to the objects. It's a dialogue; you're speaking back to silent writing friends.

Remember not to use these ideas as a way to avoid writing. And don't feel obligated to use any of them. If you're hot, you're hot. Sizzle on, girlfriend!

Don't overlook the creative collaboration of a writing buddy. The relationship is more intimate and flexible than a critique group. It focuses on one person's needs at a time and can take your writing deeper. Ultimately you have to do it alone, but you don't have to do it without support.

So what’s the unromantic truth about writing? It’s our job to stimulate thought and then complete it. A mature writer ultimately finds companionship within the work itself.

I'll be fielding questions about practical creativity—ones that emerge as you get deeper into your writing practice. Pose your questions via comments on this post or directly to me. You'll find my contact email at www.riehlife.com.

Building a Creative Practice: Not for Wimps

 

Capricorn Heart: The Goat = perseverence

Last month we discussed what creativity is and isn’t. [“What Is Creativity, Anyway?"] It isn’t flirting with whimsical ideas or attending a weekend workshop. It is doing the hard work of tapping into and harvesting our own raw life source. It requires establishing a sustained creative practice. I sometimes write it as an equation: Connection to Source + Sustained Work = Creative Practice.

What does a creative practice look like? How do we go about establishing one? In other words, what are good work habits, and how can we develop them?

A writing practice goes beyond journaling. Julie Cameron made writing morning pages popular, and they’re a creative vehicle for many writers. A sustained creative practice, however, takes it farther. As a Buddhist might put it, morning pages are the finger pointing at the moon, rather than the moon itself. In a regular creative practice, you're designing, building, and working toward a goal—the moon. You are writing with a purpose, not writing randomly and hoping for the best.

You and your muse. Don't wait for inspiration to come to you. What if the Muse shows up and you're not there? She can’t meet up with you if she doesn’t know where you are. Setting a regular time and place is your responsibility.

Time and Timing. Decide how much time it’s reasonable for you to write each day. What time of day is best? Factor in your biorhythms and your personal schedule. Maybe you’ll write your “morning” pages at midnight after the kids are in bed. When my father worked as a manual laborer, he wrote in the company locker room on days when they couldn’t work outside. Make choices you’re reasonably sure you can maintain.

A cheap date. Decide on a place to write. Some folks prefer public places with lots happening, like Natalie Goldberg who famously writes in cafes. Others work better in quiet surroundings without much outside stimulation. Don’t feel like you have to take the Muse out anywhere special—inviting her for a cup of tea in the living room is enough. When you’re starting out, keep the place you choose as constant as possible.

Ink it in. Make an appointment. Write the time and place on your calendar—in pen, not pencil. You wouldn't stand up friend, so don't stand up your muse. If you can’t make the appointment, don’t beat yourself up; simply reschedule.

Pumping iron. Start slow and work up to longer practice periods. You’ll be able to write longer and more productively the longer you work at it. Focus on developing consistency and perseverance—the power lifting of a creative practice. Relying on inspiration alone is for weaklings.

There’s an apocryphal story of a man who could lift a horse unaided. Asked how he did it, he said that as a boy he picked up a newly born foal every day and continued the exercise as he and the horse grew up. Finally, as a young man, he had the strength to pick up the horse without breaking a sweat. You can do the same in your creative practice.

Our January Creative Catalyst blog will be about tapping into our creative source, using an exercise to get started. In the meantime, work on establishing a solid creative practice: Set a time; set a place; and P-U-M-P that creative iron.

I’ll be fielding questions about practical creativity—the one that emerges over time through practice. You can pose your questions via comments on this post, or directly to me, via email. You'll find my contact email at www.riehlife.com

What is creativity, anyway?

A creativity craze is sweeping the country. Creativity in 21st century America has become a possession everyone wants.

Creativity is not a possession. It’s a birthright in service to something larger than ourselves. But you have to the work; you have to earn your creative life.

When I describe my life with its multiple projects in writing, performing, and the visual arts, folks sigh, and say, wistfully, “Ah, but you’re sooooo creative. I wish that I could be as creative as you are.”

What is creativity anyway? Here are a few things it's not:

• It’s not always big fun.

• It’s not just a game we play with ourselves about something we’re going to do, someday, or something we talk about at a party to play the role of the suffering artist or to pump up our self worth. It's not posing or playing a role.
  

• It’s not just being whimsical…or erratically playful like taking a different route to work to vary your routine.

• It’s not just a weekend workshop. Don’t be fooled by superficial formulas of how to become more creative. That’s selling it way too cheap. It’s what happens in-between these worshops that matter.

• It’s not flightly and not just entertainment. A life filled with creative practice is sustained over time.

• It doesn't draw attention to itself.

• It doesn't take itself too seriously.

All of the above are types of pretend creativity, like a dog dressed up in a frilly dress. Practical creativity wears overalls, garden gloves, carries a tool belt, and knows how to use the tools.

Practical creativity is  something we do everyday. First, let’s separate creativity into two types. To start off there’s the ordinary creativity we do in everyday as we cook, put together our outfits, and solve the problems that come our way.

Second, there’s the practical creativity of the Sciences and the Arts—creativity directed towards larger problem solving for our culture and the world.

My simple definition of creativity is this: “Uniting heart, hands, and head to make or do something of value to yourself and quite, possibly the wider world.”

My complete definition of creativity is: “Nurturing and directing the raw life force within us in a channel to do or make something that matters to you and the wider world. Showing up consistently to do the work.”

We all contain the first part of my complete definition—that raw life force that runs inside us. Or, as Dylan Thomas so eloquently put it in a well-known 1933 poem: “The force that through the green fuse drives the flower /Drives my green age” and, less famously, “The force that drives the water through the rocks /Drives my red blood.”

Are we creative just for containing this life force? No. This green fuse force is placed inside us to enrich our lives. We all have it. We can choose to tap into it or not.

Part of the work of creativity—before we can tap into this life force—is learning how to nurture and channel this force. You have to do the work on yourself and learn you own creative process. This is being in service to the force, to pledge your life in service to the products produced through your creative gift and process.

Being in tune with our process and knowing how to create—to set up the pre-conditions to make our art (in whatever media) is an art unto itself. But doing this by itself still does not qualify as being fully creative. Nor, does working only as a result of inspiration. Accept the gift of inspiration gratefully when it comes and don’t waste it, knowing that this is only one of the means you have available to you to shape your creative force into products that will gift the world.

What really separates the dabblers from those seriously pursuing any creative path in the Arts, Sciences or everyday living is quite simply this: work—disciplined pursuit followed by physical products of that pursuit.

Work with your creative force. You have to do the work. That’s the thing. This is, incidentally, why sustained creation of physical products is known as “a body of work.” It’s a physical act going out into a physical world.

This work of channeling your life force  to create tangible products of that work qualifies you for a creative merit badge. I’m looking forward to pinning it right on you with crowds cheering and marching bands playing.

So, join the Creative Catalyst parade with me. Bring your tuba.

I’ll be fielding questions about practical creativity—the one that emerges over time through practice. You can pose your questions via comments on this post, or directly to me, via email. You'll find my contact email at www.riehlife.com.