All writers sometimes struggle to find the right words. So this week's quotation, by poet William Blake, rang very true with me: "Don't be afraid of your imagination! No bird can fly too high using its own wings."
Which cheered me up no end. It seems as though even such a great poet as Blake sometimes needed a little nudge to set him off in the right direction.
Many writers and artists of all kinds believe they have a muse, who helps them when they are stuck and enables them to produce their best work. Stephen King calls his, "the boys in the basement", which I rather like. Liz Gilbert, in her wonderful book, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, makes a distinction between being a genius (which is tough to live up to) and having a genius, a benevolent spirit who occasionally shows up to help creative artists. I call mine the Inspiration Fairy.
Gilbert also has a fascinating theory about ideas, believing them to be "a disembodied, energetic life-form. They are completely separate from us, but capable of interacting with us... Ideas have no material body, but they do have consciousness, and they most certainly have will. Ideas are driven by a single impulse: to be made manifest. And the only way an idea can be made manifest in our world is through collaboration with a human partner." And that this not only applies to the creative arts, but also to science, religion, philosophy, industry, commerce and politics - all the areas which need new ideas to flourish and grow.
She makes it clear that our part is to show up and be willing to engage with the idea. That we have to make a commitment to the writing (or painting or crafting) process and then, only then, once the Idea is positive that we are serious about it, may inspiration strike. She emphasises that for most writers, inspiration only turns up on rare occasions.
I have found this to be true. Most of a writer's (or artist's) work is about showing up and putting in the hours. As she explains, "There is no time or space where inspiration comes from - and also no competition, no ego, no limitations. There is only the stubbornness of the idea itself, refusing to stop searching until it has found an equally stubborn collaborator.... Work with that stubbornness. Work with it as openly and trustingly and diligently as you can. Work with all your heart, because... if you show up for your work day after day after day, you just might get lucky enough some random morning to burst right into bloom."
It is wonderful when it happens. For me it generally occurs when I am on the edge of sleep, mulling over the events of the day. And suddenly, I will get an idea for the next scene of my book (or how to correct an old scene that I wasn't happy with). Or some lines for a poem. Or a topic for this week's service. I have found that the only thing to do is to put the light on, sit up, pick up notebook and pen and scribble it down. I have learned by bitter experience that it's no good believing I will remember it in the morning. At least, not for me.
And this idea of visits from inspiration can apply to our ordinary lives. So long as we make a commitment to follow the best that we know, we will often be give a nudge out of the door. Which enables us to lives passionate, creative lives.
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