Good Morning Writers! ~ Waves and Cycles

April 2019

My writing cycles have certainly changed. Newborn maybe?

November 2017

I’ve come across this post from 2014 and I think it is still up-to-date for my writing. I had to follow my cycles and did not finish #NaNoWriMo17. That’s ok. I am still working on Morsmart so nothing is lost.

2014

How is your writing going? Have you challenged yourself to spread your wings and break your boundaries? Are you happy where you are and is your creativity flowing? I hope the latter is the case because nothing is worse than being unhappy with one’s life and creativity and just nothing is coming to one.

Creative in Mysterious Ways

I had been creative in a kind of mysterious way writing a “Lean against … and listen” nearly every day last week. It felt like I needed to let go of control and just let my creativity free. Let it spread its wings and go new/old ways. That I enjoyed very much. I got a comment on one of my Stream of Consciousness Saturday posts which made me think a lot. It came from Shan Jeniah Burton, who said that like me her writing and reading comes in waves.

Good image for Creativity: Waves

I answered her that I think that is a wonderful image for creativity: It comes in waves. Another good image is that of creativity in cycles. Like nature, it flows in a constant cycle of growing, reaping, resting and growing again. In our so busy societies, the resting often is not valued enough though. Well, not valued at all.

Importance of non-productive phases for Creativity

In ancient times when people knew nothing about artificial fertilizers, they let their fields rest without growing anything for a year or so to give it time to regenerate. I think there is something we can learn. They just let the fields rest, let them out of their control just to regenerate itself. Our creativity I believe needs these times of regeneration as well. When we go away from all our creative projects and just do something else. Let ideas, goals and work rest and regenerate itself.

We feel uncomfortable though

But when we are in phases like this most of us feel uncomfortable as we live in a society of constant “busy-ness” and only the productive ones are accepted. Anyone who is not productive has trouble finding a place in this society which has a deep impact on our behaviour towards disabled and elderly people for example.

Even God Rested and let Creativity regenerate itself

We can learn from the Bible here: There is a reason why God rested on the 7th day. God also saw that his creation was good. God enjoyed what he/she had produced and let his/her creativity rest. I believe we can only be really creative if we allow ourselves those resting times, but also to allow ourselves to see that it is good what we have done. What a gorgeous feeling to lean back in your chair, look at what you have worked on and say to yourself: It is done for now and it is good! And what a gorgeous feeling to start again and let regenerated creativity do its work. In this sense:

May you recognise your own cycles of creativity and may you respect them.