What's the single biggest issue you struggle with in being more creative?

[Dan Goodwin]

What's the single biggest issue you struggle with in being more creative?

Is it procrastination?

Trying to make everything perfect, constantly wrestling with your inner critic?

Coming up with new ideas or developing existing ones?

Focusing on one creative project, and actually finishing something?

Finding enough (or any!) time to create?

Something else?

Let us know what's blocking your creativity most right now, that if you could overcome it would mean your creativity would soar to new levels...

[jane]

for me... its a combination of them all -i clearly need help!

I have a very busy working life and as a result the creativity which feeds my soul is usually the thing to suffer. Last summer i was not in a great place with my health (knee injury), work, family issues etc and even my garden suffered (bad weather) as i failed to prioritise and get out there! or was i making excuses.....?

For me - the biggest thing is finding time to create - there always seems something else to do.... and then when i do find the time - i cant think what to do... so i potter about doing meaningless things until i have run out of the time "window" and have to go do the other stuff that is calling louder. Or.. if i do something, i dont feel its as good as it could be, or that i dont know why i bother cos everyone else is so much more talented than me... or i just simply dont know WHAT to do - so i waste the window looking for ideas....

how would unblocking me help..... guess!!!!!!!!!!!! how frustrating it all is....

but i am writing more - seems to be something i can do quite easily, and quickly and doesnt mean hours of preparation and clearing up... so perhaps there is hope for me? xx

[Dan Goodwin]

Jane thanks for your comments. A lot of common creativity issues there!

Yes there's always hope.

If there was one thing you could get help with first, what would you choose? What would make the biggest positive difference to your creativity and how easily you found it to create, and your enjoyment of creating?

Dan

[jane]

hi dan - my reply is not the one i thought it was going to be. Initally i thought - its finding the time. However, this afternoon i have been in the garden enjoying myself with my plants and seedlings etc.. and i found the time for that! So perhaps when i find something i really want to do - time is not the issue.

So i think the main problem is the ideas and motivation... so what would that be procrastination? i can easily find other things to do... find excuses... surf the internet... fiddle about in the kitchen etc... i could find the time.. i just need the ideas....

now what.....?

[Dan Goodwin]

The question that comes to my mind Jane is:

Why do you create?

What does it bring you that nothing else does?

Once you tap into that, I think the details all begin to fall into place...

What are your thoughts?

Dan

[jane]

you are right - like carol (i think) said here later on ... i create to make me happy and because i get something "rich" inside me from it... i have to work on that..... 8) x

[Carol Clark]

Hi Dan -

Great discussion. I would say my biggest issue is sticking with a project. My problem is not with generation of ideas, but rather with organizing and prioritizing my goals. I'm getting better with this, but something always stops me from working on/completing a piece of writing that I'd really like to submit.

Maybe I'm afraid it won't meet my expectations, that it won't be good enough. Or here's a thought.... maybe I'm afraid it will. Sounds odd, I know. But for someone who was brought up that competition is wrong, and winning was not encouraged, sometimes I really think I back down if I think I will succeed.

There are other issues, for sure, like making and keeping the time to write. But definitely, staying focused on one or two projects at a time is my goal right now. To work on my short stories and get at least (2) of them in by the end of the summer for possible publication.

Thanks for allowing me to think and write this out... I needed to hear it! :-)
Carol

[Dan Goodwin]

Hi Carol, thanks for your comments.

So you said: "something always stops me from working on/completing a piece of writing that I'd really like to submit"...

Do you always begin a piece of writing with the end goal of submitting it to be published somewhere? Do you sometimes just write freely for the enjoyment of writing?

I wonder how this influences how easily you write?

If you had to put a name to that "something" that always stops you, what would it be?

Dan

[Carol Clark]

I do write a lot just for the fun of it, and that helps loosen me up. I think as soon I start thinking "contest" or "publication", I tighten up because I expect a lot from myself. I'm learning that I have to begin all my work in a freestyle way, whether it's for me, or for a magazine, whatever. If I don't, it will come out "tight and stilted".

In answer to your question, the name I think I would put to it.... PERFECTIONISM.

Carol

[Dan Goodwin]

I think there's a balance between writing freely, and feeling able to write freely, and sometimes being able to write for a specific assignment or contest or publication.

Personally I find that having a few boundaries or limits on my writing makes me more creative. For example recently I've been writing a lot of fifty word and six word stories, the strict word limit helps me be more inventive.

Like you though Carol, certain words like "competition" can cause me to create unnecessary pressure on myself.

Like you're doing, a combination of writing to a specific brief plus free writing just for the fun of it, seems a good approach. This goes for any creating of course, not just writing.

Perfectionism? No idea what that is... (Just kidding... : ) )

Dan

[Dan Goodwin]

"The human story does not always unfold like a mathematical calculation on the principle that two and two make four. Sometimes in life they make five or minus three; and sometimes the blackboard topples down in the middle of the sum and leaves the class in disorder and the pedagogue with a black eye." ~Winston Churchill

[Hannah]

lol! I love Churchill

[Dan Goodwin]

Hey Wendy, good to hear your thoughts on this.

So are you talking about how to focus within one project once you've started it, rather than how to focus on choosing just one project to create in the first place?

What if there was no such thing as the "wrong" direction, just different directions, with different outcomes? How would that help you to create more easily?

Paralysis by analysis, I think we can all relate to!

Dan