As artists, we ourselves are creators. We create our stories, our books, our poems and we share them with the world.
But, we are also consumers. We read, watch television, listen to podcasts. We fill our well with knowledge and inspiration to fuel our creator sides.
One of the challenges I have faced is finding the balance between consuming and creating. When I’m not feeling as confident in my work, I want to consume, consume, consume. The opportunity though is to stick with the work.
Take in inspiration and then create, give, move the words onto the page. Are you ready to do more creating? Read on!
The Difference Between Being a Consumer and a Creator
The truth is that we are all both a consumer AND a creator simultaneously. You cannot have one without the other.
Being in consumer mode is invaluable and ultimately pays off in the long run because this is the time we spend learning, educating ourselves, and expanding our minds. Equally, being in creator mode is extremely rewarding because your creative juices are flowing, and you are creating something that is in tune with what makes sense to you at this moment.
But, the question is, are you showing up as strongly in the one that matters the most to you right now, without judgment?
What it means to be in consumer mode
Many people jump to the conclusion that being in “consumer mode” is when you are out buying things when that is not the form of consumerism I mean here.
Being in consumer mode is when you consume valuable ideas, literature, and thought-provoking leadership, so when you are ready to switch into creator mode, you have a wealth of knowledge and inspiration supporting you.
If you are spending most of your time taking in podcasts, articles, books, poetry collections, and documentaries to learn and expand your mind, ensure you are giving equal or more time, depending on your goals, creating.
Consuming is an essential part of the creative process because you’re learning from someone who has done the work for you. It’s like having someone cook a meal for you, and your only job is to enjoy it.
But, you need to consciously consume the material that will help you when you are in your creative mode.
When you are in creative mode, you must commit to the process
A question I ask my clients when discussing the creative mode is, are you genuinely bringing forth the music that is inside you at the level you feel your soul, heart, or life is asking you to?
If the answer is no, then it is time to reevaluate your “why” and take a deeper dive into the content you are consuming. Is that content fueling your creative fire?
A great exercise to observe how much time you are consuming versus creating is drawing a pie graph. Draw a circle on a piece of paper and draw lines to estimate how much time you spend consuming and receiving, versus how much time you are producing, creating, and contributing.
This exercise intends not to shame, yet to just check in with yourself to make sure that you are on track to achieve everything you want with the rest of this year.
For example, I am currently working on a new book with a very robust, rigorous timeline that I’ve set in place for myself. And if I consume 75% of the time and only create 25% of the time, I won’t finish my book before the end of the year.
So, just be honest with yourself. Are you creating and contributing to the extent that you feel your soul wants you to or aligns with your goals?
Sometimes, inspiration can come from places we least expect. The sound of the cicada buzzing outside. The news article you read today. The color of the coat on the woman you passed at the grocery store.
Inspiration can come from anywhere if we pay attention.
Award-winning writer Jenny Offill has a great method to remember these inspiring things and use them to guide her writing.
Jenny’s Inspiration Jar
Whenever Jenny comes across something inspiring – be it something she reads, something she sees, just something the really resonates with her – she writes it down on a piece of paper and puts it in a jar.
And so the jar becomes full of these little ideas, inspirations from things that stood out to her. When Jenny sits down to write, instead of facing an intimidating blank page, she just reaches into the jar and pulls out a slip of paper, and then she has something to work with. She can either insert that idea into something she’s already writing, or she can use it as a prompt to get her going.
Object Diary
Jenny’s jar is similar to what I do with my Object Diary. Just like Jenny, I write down things that speak to me. If I overhear something bizarre or cool, see a sign or a plant that catches my eye, or if I just keep thinking about Alaska, for instance, and I don’t know why… I simply write all these things down in a notebook and, over time, themes emerge and they become a sort of organic soil to pull things from my subconscious and use as ingredients in my current projects.
I might have forgotten that I kept thinking about Alaska, but if I consult my journal later when I’m writing, stuck on what should happen next—I think, oh my gosh, this character is either going to go to Alaska, getting in a fight about Alaska or having to call a relative they are estranged from who lives in Alaska—it could go anywhere!
How fun would it be to have this inspiration jar like Jenny? I am so excited to turn my Object Diary, which is on paper, into something that resembles a still life—this vase of divine ideas.
I’d love to hear if you want to join me in trying out an inspiration jar. And I’m giving full credit to Jenny for giving us the idea. So, try it out and let me know how it goes!
Whether we’re writing fiction, non-fiction, poetry, articles, or blogs, the goal is for our writing to be so riveting that the reader takes the offering that we are giving them in the form of our story or our content, and remember it long after their eyes lift from the page.
Have you ever noticed how one person can write about a topic and you are so bored that you want to throw the book down and go watch TV? And yet another author could write about the exact same subject and you are immersed and completely engrossed.
What makes one better than the other? I always love looking behind the curtain and understanding what authors do to create this experience.
The power of unexpected language
One of the things that I’ve noticed over and over again is that the authors who keep us riveted are using language in a way that is unexpected. There’s an element of surprise, which is delightful to our minds. These authors are willing to write the things that most people are afraid to say, and being able to reveal the not-so-pretty truth of what someone’s thinking is a comfort to those who have similar thoughts that aren’t viewed as acceptable in polite society. There’s an element of disclosure, deep candor and honesty in successful writing.
The idea of surprising with language involves using interesting metaphors or similes or taking a unique stance in looking at something. You can make anything incredibly compelling when you say it in an unexpected way and you reveal some sort of truth.
Try using your words to represent and be the subtext for deeper tensions and unsaid emotions.
Case study: legos and rosaries
“The Souvenir Museum,” a collection of short stories by Elizabeth McCracken, is one of my favorite books I have read this year. In one story the author writes about a boy and his Legos, which is a very domestic scene that could be considered kind of bland, yet she does it in such a way that it serves to build his character. The boy had visited the Legoland Billund Resort, the original Legoland park in Denmark, and he was disappointed. She writes:
“He did not dream in Lego. Not anymore. But sometimes he still raked his hand through the bins of it beneath his bed as a kind of rosary to remind himself that the world, like Lego, was solid and mutable both.”
There is the simile that he raked his hand through the Legos like a rosary. “Raking” is an unusual verb to describe something you do with your hands. McCracken is revealing character: He was passionate about this toy and the creativity that it unlocked, but now he’s in transition between being a little kid and a bigger kid. However, he still finds some comfort in the Legos, like one might in holding a rosary.
This is an amazing example of the delight of a simile or metaphor when used as an unexpected juxtaposition.
This week I challenge you to write about something mundane: filling a glass of water or a bush. Approach it as McCracken did with the boy and the Legos, and use one unusual verb to describe a character interacting with the object, and then come up with a simile or metaphor that is unexpected to reveal something deeper about the character in relation to that object.
This is my favorite time of year… new beginnings, “back to school,” focused, powerful energy to HARVEST our visions! I love this time because there’s so much space for creativity and focus, and I try to tap into it every year.
As you all know, I’m writing a new book, and in doing so, I’ve discovered something that I want you to try for yourself… A little thing I’m calling the immersion method, and honestly, it’s not anything new to any of us, but it’s new to me in terms of writing creative nonfiction.
Immersion Method
When I write, I always set goals for myself. This time around, though, I made the bold decision to finish my next manuscript by year’s end. Typically, I give myself six months to a year to complete a manuscript, depending on what genre I’m following, so this is a pretty tall order.
But I decided that this time would be different, so to accomplish this, I’ve set an ambitious schedule to compose a chapter every week and a half. And the good news is that I’m already over that overwhelming moment when the task at hand feels insurmountable!
I started by doing the everyday things that I teach. I took out my schedule, carved out the time, and swapped some things around to dedicate time to writing.
And I also booked plenty of family time and social time because I didn’t want to feel deprived and potentially ruin relationships in the process.
At the same time, I’m also running a business, so I thought hard about what will get me to a finished manuscript? I started envisioning it, and ultimately, what came to mind was this immersion method.
The Specifics
I decided to experiment with dictation software to maximize my writing productivity – and for me, it’s been an experience like no other.
I considered how I already scheduled my writing time (double my usual pace, remember?), but what about “writing” using a dictation app called Otter as I go throughout the day?
So, I gave it a try, and I was astounded at how much content I could generate in only three days!
I thought immersing myself in the drafting phase would raise my productivity, but I didn’t expect it to quadruple!
It’s all about finding ways to make your creativity flow, to make it start to churn and make waves until you can’t think of anything else but completing your daily writing goal. The trick is to align those writing goals with your project’s outline, whatever it may be. That way, I know exactly what I will be working on before I get the creative juices flowing.
Time will tell whether or not I stick to the immersion method, but for now, it’s bringing my writing pace to a new level.
I talk more about this in the video below – check it out to see if you’d like to give it a try.
My hope is that this method will, at the least, inspire you to double or triple your writing productivity too!
What do you want to accomplish this year? This week is all about actively achieving your goals, and in particular, how the decision-making process is crucial to your success.
“Our decisions entirely shape our destiny.” – Tony Robbins
If you look back on your life, I am sure that you can recall the most defining moments – those moments in which you decided to finally leave a relationship or a job that was no longer serving you. It’s likely that those decisions were preceded by months or years of obsessing over what to do before finally pulling the trigger.
In the same way, you must make the decision to write today, or to invest in whatever it takes to move closer towards your goals, whether that is taking a class, booking an appointment with a coach, or pursuing a partnership that will help propel your writing career forward.
Take some time today to think about what decisions you can make this week that will determine the course of your life’s destiny.
The outcome of your next goal or desire entirely depends on the decisions that you make.
Challenge
Set three minutes on a timer and journal: Which decisions can I make this week that are in alignment with the outcome I want to create? For example, completing your book by the holidays, getting a piece published in a journal that you admire, or even booking a TEDx Talk. What is the very next decision you need to make in order to make your goal a reality?
When making a decision, consider it from the hot/cold perspective: Am I getting closer to my goal (hotter), or farther away (colder)? Commit to making ‘hot,’ powerful decisions this week. The great thing about decisions is that it doesn’t matter how we feel about them. We can still think we suck and we’re not good enough. But if you make the decision and follow through with the action, you CAN finish that book or contact that person to book an event.
