Writers First Aid

Principles of a Creative Life

March 30, 2011

“The healthy creative life is an intentional life, in which the person examines options and opportunities, necessities and desires, and makes his or her choices accordingly.”

~~(Vinita Hampton Wright) in The Soul Tells a Story

If you took time to ponder and write down answers to the questions posed in Monday’s blog, you gained a lot of information about your dreams and gifts. That knowledge is important. But knowledge alone isn’t enough. You must be intentional in using this knowledge to develop your creative life.

A Writing Life on Purpose

The healthy creative life involves practices that help further develop your gifts. If you want to write, you have the responsibility to develop practices that help you grow. (You also need to get rid of habits that hurt your writing–but that’s another post!) You can (and should) set goals, design rituals to help you get started (light candles, make tea, put on music) and form habits that help you both start and continue writing.

Here are some questions for you to answer to examine this part of your life. Even if you’ve been writing for a long time, I’d suggest answering the questions based on where you are now. I found them very helpful myself. Without meaning to, we can get off-track, our life circumstances can get us off course, or we might never have given this sufficient thought to begin with.

Now’s the Time!

Here are some more questions from The Soul Tells a Story. Brainstorm answers in your journal.

How intentional (using planning or goals) have I been about developing my creativity?
What opportunities am I looking for–and are these options open to me?
What qualities do I want to nurture in my personality and lifestyle that will allow me to use my gifts in my writing?
What rituals or practices always seem to work to help me do my writing?
What other rituals and practices that I’ve heard about would I like to try?

It’s time to make some intentional choices! We won’t grow as writers unless we intend to grow and choose to grow. What’s a “growth choice” that you might like to make–and implement–very soon?

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Post tags: focus, focusing, goals, habits, motivation, psychology of writing, writing challenges, writing habits

Posted in: focusing,goals,habits,schedules,writing habits | | Comments (4)

4 Comments »

Kristi, I think it’s important to distinguish between rituals that help us start writing and habits that help us procrastinate! I’m hoping to make better choices.

Comment by Jane Heitman Healy — March 30, 2011 @ 6:32 am
Jane, you are so right! The author even mentioned that we needed to be aware when our rituals (like writing Morning Pages a la Julia Cameron) just bleeds over into an excuse not to get on with the writing.

I’ve gone to the other extreme, though, and I need to back up and slow down. During years of time crunches, I got to thinking, “Oh this is silly–just get to work,” thus arriving at the keyboard all stiff and tense. I need to reclaim a few rituals, I think!

Comment by Kristi Holl — March 30, 2011 @ 9:24 am
I was always taught that if you are not moving forward, you are moving backwards – there is no standing still in life!

Comment by Andrea — March 30, 2011 @ 9:36 am
Andrea, I do believe you’re right. I have definitely moved backwards today!! Well, the day isn’t over yet, so maybe I still have a chance to reverse gears and move forward instead! Thanks for the push!

Comment by Kristi Holl — March 31, 2011 @ 1:55 pm