Are you waiting for the right mood to strike before you work on your creative project?
Are you waiting until you have the right room to write or paint in?
Are you waiting until you have the right computer before you can start writing?
Are you waiting until you have the right “voice” or platform before you start sharing your message?
Are you waiting until you’ve picked the right project to start working on?
Are you waiting until you have more money before you do your art?
Are you waiting for big blocks of time before you write songs, start your novel, or get that screenplay off the shelf for a rewrite?
Are you waiting to be divinely inspired before you start your project?
Are you waiting for permission to create?
Wait no longer.
Your art will not happen unless you do it. And sometimes that means showing up and doing it even if you don’t know what you’re doing yet.
Besides, in a study by Robert Boice about academic writers, he found that writers who committed to writing daily were TWICE as likely to have a creative thought as writers who wrote when they “felt like it.”
The key here is consistency. Making the effort to show up every day to your creative passion will foster and spark your creativity, not the other way around.
Warmly,
Hi Jenna,
Have I seen The Blue Butterfly episode? Not sure.
Wise post.
Most folks spend their entire lives getting ready to do something and then never do it. “I need a degree or more money in the bank or more free time.” The right moment is now. The school’s train us to not be ready to start and certainly not without permission. I went to a high school recently where 16-year-olds had to get permission and sign a sheet to go to a bathroom 8 feet outside the door. That does not prepare folks to go out and do things on their own. We need to conduct more sanity checks …
G.
“The Blue Butterfly” just aired on Monday night — I’ve been watching Season 4 on Hulu.com and on ABC.com.
I LOVE the idea of conducting “Sanity Checks”. Now there’s an idea for a department. Reminds a bit of a story I read (recommended to me by the fabulous Kristine Carey of http://www.kristinecarey.com) called “Bad Monkeys”. Great book.
Jenna,
I love this post…before your Writer’s Circle I was first on the list to “wait for creativity to strike.” Now I find myself craving my writing time. Just showing up every day for 3 weeks, even for 15 minutes, has turned out more pages in my book than “waiting for creativity” has in the last 5 years. Thank you, Jenna!
Terri, I couldn’t be happier to hear you are writing so consistently now. Congratulations! Isn’t it amazing what a small amount of consistent effort can accomplish? Thanks for being such a great role model for others too. :)