Creative Equanimity

 

After a frenzied holiday season with the comings and goings and the excessiveness of all things gustatory, it takes a few days, or longer, if there’s a dalliance that thwarts getting back in flow. Restoring equanimity invites the sweet melody of the creative muse again. This requires diligent commitment.

 

 

Slow it down to get back behind the creative wheel

 

 

When one’s attention veers in directions that divert from the words on a page, it is easy to remain in that mode beyond the holidays. If one does not challenge or coerce oneself to empower a creative mood, there is the risk of it not returning.

Equanimity is the balance, the serenity of mind that ceases all noisy thinking to allow voices from unfinished stories or new stories seeking creative attention to emerge.

 

 

Moments of equanimity increase with practice

 

 

Morning flow practice, or at any time of the day, invites the creative zone. Added to flow practice is what Orna Ross, Irish poet, author, and founder of The Alliance of Independent Authors, coined as F.R.E. E (Fast, Raw, Exact, Easy) writing, and Julia Cameron, American teacher, author, artist, poet, playwright, novelist, filmmaker, best known for her book, The Artist’s Way, as Morning pages. This is the cathartic clearing of mind clutter by unleashing baggage that has infiltrated mind space.

Handwrite whatever arrives for the deliberate act of decluttering. This makes perfect sense when we toss noisy, disruptive thoughts to allow spaciousness for creative energy to flow. To restore equanimity, flow practice, and F.R.E. E writing, or Morning Pages are necessary to kick start the creative process.

 

 

 

Start slow, in bite-size time allocations, fifteen to thirty minutes at a time. Take a walk outdoors or play soothing music, sounds of nature, or cool jazz as I choose, to get back to the writing session as soon as possible.

Avoid reacting to situations that trigger negative emotions and let the self slide into a mode of quiet acceptance to heighten creative energy. Being still, open, and present in one’s immediate environment has the benefit of opening the door to creative space. Light a candle, or incense stick, open a door for a breeze to waft in and allow whatever comes to mind without resisting or judging its arrival.

 

 

Everything in life requires practice and commitment…

 

 

Find your daily routine. It is a ritual. It takes time and effort. Surround yourself with that which brings inner calm, including the people you invite into your space, and watch creative magic unfold.

May 2023 be the year in which the vastness of your creative potential arises and remains afloat.

 

Happy Reading, Happy Creating.

 

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Creative Life : Discerning Choices

 

Is there ever too much in a writing life?

A full-time writer lives and breathes, creating fresh stories, poetry, and essays. Nothing is ever too much for the creative.

When starting out as a writer, passion draws one to all things writing, from social media, literary associations, events both live and online and a plethora of books on how to write and publish. FOMO consumes the early years, but on the flip side, it can erode creative time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over time, whittle down to those activities that create the time and space for the creative process together with growing an author brand and business. There is much to gain from trying different groups and associations to test what fits your values and the type of writer you hope to be.

 

Be unique, select memberships wisely

 

Don’t strive to be someone else. Readers appreciate authenticity.

While exploring the creative cyber space, books, groups, and associations, you realise, over time, what adds value to your work.

It is vital to look for integrity when seeking to find where you belong as an artist in what can be an overwhelming space if trying to fit in with more than you can humanly manage.

 

Passion and FOMO drive the need to be a part of all and more

 

Give priority to the innate reason for choosing a creative life. This will guide your understanding of where to invest your time and growth. Running your own creative business is a mammoth task before investment in virtual assistants.

In the initial stages of a creative life, creatives might manage a day job and fit in a creative life after hours, besides managing rest and domesticity.

To ensure you give adequate creative time to your work, divvy up time to at least two associations that echo your values. An authentic organisation such as ALLi guarantees professional development, keeps you informed of current writing and publishing trends. Podcasts and FB live monthly advice sharing, and a Self-PubCon offer advice not to be missed. A directory of vetted services available to ALLi members is where you will find cover designers, editors, and many other services you require as a creative in publishing.

Depending on where you live in the world, you might hook up with a local association and join a Facebook Group or two for the quality of the experience. It is easy to slip down the rabbit-hole chasing after what appears bigger and better. Over time, this will steal valuable time from your ultimate purpose: to write and write more.

Sharing across author platforms is a great way to promote your work to different readers while helping promote the work of writers you enjoy and admire to your supporters. This garners support from grateful creatives who return the respect by promoting your work.

The creative space is generous and supportive. Find your authentic niche and belong to grow your creative works.

Please share the platforms you enjoy in the comment box below to help fellow aspiring writers make discerning creative choices.

 

Happy Writing, Happy Learning!

 

 

Creative Courage

The past year of profound change where retreating was not a choice but a necessity, turned the eye inward in this time of social incarceration—a springboard for creative pursuits. 

Poetry, stories, art, music, new skills in any area of the vastness of possibilities, bring courage to those who stand in the shadows, voiceless and afraid to be seen or heard.

With the external locked out to preserve life, the inner voice raises its head, looks around and mulls over hidden possibilities. Heed the message. We need action to claim the creative possibility within grasp.

Embrace the stillness to find what a fast-paced life has stymied. With materialistic desires placed on the back-burner, an almost magical transformation emerges.

 

Simplicity grows courage and innovativeness

 

 

 

We learn from our forebears who with flintstones created fire, almost two million years ago. Today we have so much more at our fingertips.

 

Complacency kills creativity

 

                                                                      Learn More

 

The past spent bemoaning being time-poor is a state of mind. Creating space, both in time and place, waters the creative spirit with a thirst to innovate—encourage the spirit, and mind to seek something new.

Tip in a toe, test the waters by reading more and much more, find your tribe to encourage confidence, dive in, one stroke at a time! Feel the warmth of submersion generated from praise and acknowledgement.

 

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties ~ Erich Fromm

 

 

Planning is paramount and being flexible with the plan is equally important. Creativity flows freely when intentions are set, then the ground-work seeps in. Like the earth requires conditions to grow—sun, soil, and water, so too the creative prepares the way forward, add in basic equipment needed, one step at a time.

The indisputable thing with creativity is that once begun, ink, paint or music flows in generous abundance if invited in.

 

In a time of retreating from global, awaken the creative spirit by the choices made.

 

What will we let go to allow the creative muse to take up residence with us?

 

Know our passions, doggedly pursue them, and find the healing in creative pursuits.

 

May 2021 be the year of finding or growing and deepening our creative wells.

 

Happy Creating.

 

Stay Safe.

 

 

Please like and share to spread creative love.

What are your thoughts on inviting creative space into our lives?

Creative Mindset: Flex and Extend

 

Routine is necessary to accomplish a finished product. The creative benefits from a routine that maximises goals and intentions.

Rote, however,  harms creative growth when curiosity is denied in favour of robotic daily ‘doing’ that limits the capacity and capabilities of the mind. Rote erodes enjoyment, takes the fun out of creativity if allowed to fester in mindlessness.

 

 

 

Once we relinquish the act of questioning, debating, and learning alternative ways, the creative quest goes down the rabbit-hole

 

Open to what others are doing successfully in their creative pursuits. Debate with the self, first, to test how to improve our creative patterns and when we observe or flex to alternative methods, before embracing them, then we are on the route to extending the creative mind.

What we read is as significant as what we write. As a fiction writer, it is essential for me to move beyond restricting myself to only reading fiction.

Get out of the box – mind the bog

 

It is imperative that we read judiciously selected, respected successful forerunners of the craft of fiction—past and present—for inspiration on the ways in which we can flex the mind. Engaging with the information gathered is the actual flexing—then question what does not sit well.  Argue why this is so, look for alternatives to the arguments that have surfaced. Never ignore your internal unrest without asking why and how. Why am I unsettled by this? How should I address why I feel this way? We learn to flex and extend our skills from observing first and then listening to what is around us. The inner well is deep, but testing the waters from the ocean of talent available deepens and brightens the path ahead.

The choice to extend ourselves is within our grasp to refresh or radicalise how we create. Flex to invite minor changes, analyse what is working for you, and incrementally extend to achieve more.

Like muscles that face a new physical challenge which is overcome by gradual flexing and extending, achieved through the art/act of trying—not rote, but being open to challenging the self, so too, the creative mind grows.

 

Photo Credit: My Life Through a Lens (Unsplash)

 

Creative and Critical

As creatives, we ought to be critical thinking beings—not cynical but critical. Herein is the source for debate to generate fresh waves of thinking and doing.

Watching a documentary, for example, on an unfamiliar topic that holds some interest is beneficial for starting the mindset extension with exposure to new knowledge. This opens inner and external debates that arise from the observation phase to grow the knowledge base and experience on the subject/topic. 

Extend listening skills to enhance creative growth without visual distractions by listening to podcasts that present new knowledge to stimulate thinking without the bias of the visual effect. The brain rain received generates novel ways of thinking or questioning how we can reinvent old patterns.

 

 

Never stop asking why, how or what can I gain from this?

 

 

As fiction writers, we should seek to understand the values that differ from our own to invite creative ideas to emerge from this openness to what lies outside of our inner workings.

I ground my novels in, in our angst and joy we are one under the sky of humanity.’ Inclusivity is my pre-wired emotional mindset because I have lived my formative years under South Africa’s apartheid regime’s divisive rule.

 

Suggested Reading

Try reading all or extracts from the following non-fiction books to open new vistas of understanding, or to deepen your understanding of human relations, justice, and politics, if this is of interest.

Essays – George Orwell

The Source of Self-Regard– Toni Morrison

The End of Imagination – Arundhati Roy

Caste – The lies that Divide Us – Isabel Wilkinson

 

 

Pick up, or do something different—something you have never read or done before and observe, reflect and note by writing what it stirs within. Get past the initial discomfort then decide if you want to extend what you do and how you do it.

 

When we flex the mind in a new direction, there’s discomfort at first, when extended, it fuels passion and ignites creativity

 

 

How do you flex and extend the mind in your creative pursuits?

 

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Erase Negative Generators

Some quick pointers as we either drown in or swim out of the quagmire of negative news.

 

As fiction writers we are wired to all that happens around us as our receptors absorb ideas for the next great story. The blessing and curse of the news – more a curse in the current times while essential for updates on matters of health and mortality, the economic slump and the general state of the nation – it is disruptive in its overdose of negativity.

 

 

Brain receptors

 

The writer’s receptors grab ideas at the speed of a 5G network – the mind is never at rest, dreams emerge during troubled times as stress levels are elevated and the quest for ideas, for the next great book, arrives in a mangled mind needing time out. Once this agglomerates to confuse and clog thinking which we are at risk of in the current global climate, the danger is depressing outcomes for the writer on high alert – never wanting to miss a moment of the rapid global change we are undergoing. The virulent effect, if we are not selective, leaves its scar for a lifetime.

 

Be Selective

 

Choice matters when words count and writing deadlines are set-up. Where possible avoid mismanaged choices that deaden your writing plans – dry the inkwell or moves the virus into your hard drive. Choose to read inspirational material to reframe how you see yourself in the world. I recommend reading The Untethered Soul, the journey beyond yourself, by Michael Singer to redirect thoughts to positivity and peace.

 

 

To attain true inner freedom, you must be able to objectively watch your problems instead of being lost in them – Michael Singer, The Untethered Soul

 

 

 

Erase Negative News for Creativity to Shine

 

Poetry, meditation, or inspirational music will reset your inner dial for greater productivity. Catch up on writing podcasts to refresh your muse. There are loads of positive platforms to draw from to rev your creative mojo free from negativity. 

Go Creative Flow Practice

 

 

Music is the Food of Life, Please Play on

 

Whatever your choice of music choose healing sounds to quieten the mind and open the creative receptors free of the pollution of an overload of negative news.

 

Kimba Arem

Louis Armstong

Mandala 7 Chakras

 

 

Dance/Move your way to writing inspiration

 

Dance like nobody is watching is an excellent way to get the blood pumping and the mood in an upswing, so whatever you choose to do, jive, toe-tap or nod to the rhythm of the sounds, you will feel energised to activate what might be momentarily blocked.

 

Jerusalema

Happy Song

 

 

Try a little Humour

 

Watch old comedy movies/television sitcoms or stand-up comedy shows. Slapstick humour relaxes the body and mind and transports us to joy – a positive mental state necessary for general wellbeing and a surge in creative energy.

 

  • Fawlty Towers
  •  Are you being served?
  • ‘Allo ‘Allo

 

 

 

 

 

Select what you will read, listen, dance or move to in your week and notice how your writing flows when you mindfully infuse beauty and peace into your daily activities.

 

Stay safe, find peace, abundant writing best wishes sent your way!

 

Happy Reading. Happy Writing!

 

 

Share your ideas on how to uplift positivity in our writing lives and life in general.

 

End Bell

 

As the year draws to a close in the blink of the year bowing out, it is a time to reflect on where we are, where we’ve come from and of course where we’re heading to.

 

Gratitude 

My gratitude for a writing life is the blessing of the creative gift to tell the stories of forgotten or unheard voices and the passion to sustain this. I am indebted to the people I’ve met along the way who support my creativity by reading my books and inspiring and supporting my desire to write more.

 

ALLi guides my ethical author status by providing up-to-the-minute publishing and marketing advice through podcasts, publications, members’ forums and Orna Ross’ weekly, Maker, Manager, and Marketer accountability for creatives.

The vibrant How to Write for Success FB group supports seasoned and novice writers in a nurturing, inspirational forum and is a space to create and showcase some of my pieces while supporting writers on their creations in a constructive, non-judgmental forum.

 

Joanna Francis Penn’s Travel and Books Podcast and Mark Dawson’s SPS Podcasts are informative, entertaining and inspirational.

 

Writers no longer work in isolation. Seclusion is necessary for the creative process and  networking creates visibility

 

 

 

 

Publishing

 

The third novel in the Souls Of Her Daughters Collection was completed, titled What Change May Come and a collection of short stories, Life’s Seasons was published this year. It has been a year of many things on all of life’s fronts with life experience extending understanding and the capacity to live my passion.

 

 

 

 

 

2020 – Onwards and Upwards

 

Currently, a new novel series/trilogy is in the making with the first draft complete and chilling for a month before several rounds of editing and reworking to be born into the world in the first quarter of next year.

Poetry is a calling that intensifies as evident in the post, Poetry Educates Prose. It was a joy to have my poem, ‘Listen,’ published in the December edition of the literary journal SIPAY. Coleridge, Wordsworth, Byron, Keats, Yeats and Orna Ross are poets I enjoy reading.

Additionally, supporting rising poets brings joy to my creative space.

 

 

 

What more…

 

Lots more writing and possibly looking at non-fiction and poetry publications while teaching, learning and growing.

 

 

 

 

A writing life, like reading, is the breath and pulse of life.

 

 

Have you signed up for my monthly or bi-monthly newsletters for special offers/ free books/stories and updates on new publications? Click here to enter and receive two free short stories.

 

As the year closes this chapter, I look forward with a glad and grateful heart.

 

Happy Reading, Happy Writing and Publishing this holiday season.

 

Season’s Greetings, may 2020 bring you the very best in peace, joy, good health, enhanced creative productivity, and abundant success in all your endeavours.

 

What are you grateful for as 2019 closes?

 

 

Add your comments in the box below.

 

What have you done with your days?

It’s the summer of December 2017. Eleven months of the year are done and perhaps not quite dusted yet as we tie up loose ends to set us free for the holidays.

Do you take stock of the year in your business of life? Do you tick off all that you have achieved and create another list of goals yet to be achieved?

The final month of a year is time to step back, think over and set the bar further for a host of things that will drive your passion into the next year.

Continue reading “What have you done with your days?”

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