After making his selection at the quarry, Michelangelo pushed a slab of stone down the road for miles to his studio. a passerby asked why he worked so hard over a piece of rock. He replied that he knew an angel in the rock wanted to come out during a laborious process.
Rollo May in, Courage to Create, wrote that creative people need big hears to take the risks necessary to creativity. He called it an, "active battle with the Gods."
Why do creative individuals suffer so much in process? Why not relent to the passages of turbulence and keep paddling?
Writers need patience to discover their angels and angles through the stages of creativity.
Preparation: In the beginning of a writing project, an idea arrives followed by a search for possible ways to discover its elaboration. Spark fly. Everyone has fun until . . .
Frustration arrives: No one can avoid this phase. Make friends with it. The creative process includes periods of confusion, chaos, and especially ambiguity. The ambiguity fuels the creative process. Every writers feels a temptation to give up or feel satisfied with a piece of writing prematurely just to have it done. Outlast the frustration, fear, and intimidation. Dialogue with it.
Incubation: This stage helps a writer develop tolerance for the mystery and continuous flow of ambiguity. It involves patience and playfulness. Gain trust that the process will solve the problem. Move into this stage by diversion. Get away from thinking about the direct issue. Romp with a child's mind.
Elaboration: With patience, perspective, and perseverance, the "Aha" moment will arrive. Perspiration rains until the sky clears. Writing flows and ideas spark in rainbow colors.
Communication: Words harness paragraphs to race onto the pages. Sharing the idea in a form that becomes understandable leads to the finish line.
Rest: Rest, re-creation, and play stimulate the building blocks to the writing process. Carl Jung encourages, "Every creative individual owes all that is greatest in his life to fantasy. The dynamic principle of fantasy involves play. This characteristic feels childlike. Without playing with fantasy no creative work is accomplished."
When stalled, place the pen or keyboard aside. Sing and dance.
Return to a piece of writing that has become a rock in your road.
Set it upside down and frolic. Discover ways you have not considered to roll it and discover its angel.
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