Creative Attunement March 10-17 2014: And Then There Were Two

For this week, my thoughts have been on the way I approach creativity as a writer. The way I “roll” as a writer. What I mean by that is I’ve been examining my thoughts on what kind of writer I am.

When I began my writing career, and I had the dream of being an author fresh on my eyelids, I was what you would call a one-Muse woman. I was one of those individuals who would write on one book at a time. Write on one story, and in that way woo one Muse, and be wooed in return by that one Muse.

I think this is in part because of my loyalty. The loyalty I have as part of my personality, and the level of commitment that I like to feel that I have toward a work that is speaking to me. I suppose I didn’t like the idea of “swapping” on my Muses – creating one out for the other. I suppose in the past I felt that this might weaken my “resolve” to finish the work. I felt that it would cause my “eyes to wander” so to speak, and in that lose my potency.

That I would somehow become distracted, and that distraction would be horrible for my creative process, and completely ruined my ability to finish the work once I started.

And I thought that way for a long time. It wasn’t until recently (and I mean recently by earlier this year) that I decided – realized the magic of Two.

That’s right, after almost 15 years of being a one-Muse writer, I have turned into a multi-Muse writer. And I suppose this too, also mirrors the widening and defining that my heart and my concept of love has gone through as well. But that is a topic for another blog post.

So what is the magic? The magic is that everything I thought as a “negative” to having more than one thing I was writing – more than one Muse I was courting – turned out to be wrong. Very wrong. Instead of a second Muse taking away from the first Muse, and making me lose my commitment, a surprising thing happens. My commitment to each Muse actually grow stronger because of the presence of the other.

Having a second Muse allows me to shift my focus ever so slightly. It allows me to leave the “bedroom” the creative space of one Muse and gone to the other. This is important because this shift – this change of scenery – allows me to see each piece with new eyes. To interact with each of my beautiful Muses with refreshed vigor. With refreshed commitment and vision, because I have been able to feast my eyes and heart on something else.

But one of the greatest gifts that I have found by working with two Muses instead of one is the fact that it keeps my creative muscle sharp. It keeps the edge of my pen sharp so to speak, because I’m not getting tired – I’m not getting lazy by writing in one voice on one topic for too long.

Most importantly however, is the fact that by having two Muses I actually protect myself against falling into a creative dead zone, more popularly known as “writer’s block.” I don’t believe that this exists in the way that most people do, but I have found that by having more than one spirit to commune with, I am less likely to fall into a place of discontent, disillusionment or confusion. Into a place where I can get my bearings or the will to write.

So if I ever have a moment where creative energy stops flowing from one Muse, all I have to do is calmly go and visit the other. And so from this year, and my writing process, this is helped me get more consistent writing for myself, as well as a decrease in my fear and discomfort of a potential slow spot in my work.

This is completely different than the way I used to feel when I was writing with only one Muse. I used to dread the moment where the work would become slow, or I would have to work a little harder to get the words on paper. And that’s because I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I didn’t have any other inspiration to turn to, and so this added a level of desperation to my work. A level of feeling like “Well, this can’t be happening right now. I can’t be losing my creative energy (my sexual desire) for the work, it’s characters and its meaning. If I do, everything stops.”

I don’t have this now, as not all of my eggs are in one basket. So I don’t have the same need for the one Muse to be consistent or to be invulnerable. I can allow that Muse to be however she is, knowing that the fire will come back. And it does come back. For each Muse. And they are kind of like polyamorous partners in that way.

In that when you leave one, you have not forsaken that one. You are just enjoying a different experience for a while. But that when you come back you’ll have all the energy and the desire you need to continue. Muses work the same way, and this year has been proof of that.

It helps too, that my beautiful Muses are completely different yet complementary goddesses. One is more masculine and the other is more feminine, and it is so so beautiful to get to see and enjoy the spectrum of this female presence.

So if you feel like your writing life is becoming stale, you may want to consider adding more Muses to your home. More stories to your queue. Not only will this stretch you creatively, but it will give you a chance to explore some new and different lands, while you are still staking a claim on your first expedition.

Until next time!

Creative Attunement February 27-March 3, 2014: Should You Write Your Dreams?

For this week’s Creative Attunement, I felt guided to talk about the subject of dreams. Not just what they mean, or what they can mean about your current creative state, but whether one should use material from their dreams as fuel for ideas. As legitimate sparks of inspiration.

As with the nature of dreams themselves, there seemed to be too distinctive camps. The first believes that dreams are nothing more than a figment of our imagination – of our brain “dumping” unused or access content from our daily lives. Or even content we are trying to “make sense of” long after our waking hours have come to an end.

The other camp, the one I am more inclined to ascribe too, believes that dreams are not just figment of our mental realm. That they in fact represent limited communication with the spirit realm, or at least other realms where we can access other states of consciousness. Other kinds of knowledge, whether in the form of warnings, happy predictions of the future, or knowings of our ancestors, or those beings who watch over us.

In the same way, dreams and writing have been polarized. Some writers and schools of thought encourage, or at least see no problem with using dream space as a unique place to come by strange, magical, if not surreal imagery or ideas. Ideas that are not conformed by the “logical” order that our waking life normally places on our experiences and our ability to put them together.

Some writers and schools of thought on the subject discourage writing with one’s dreams. They say this, claiming that the information received in dreams is often nonsensical, lacking, and impulsive – therefore missing a kind of integrity – a kind of mental stability, which lends itself to good fiction writing. These schools of thought don’t like the entertain the idea of using partial inspirations, as they believe (or fear) that the resulting creation will be less than perfect. Will be a hodgepodge of themes, characters, moods or motivations – with nothing that ever has any true substance.

They believe that the Muse that arises from dreams to find herself on the page is an ephemeral, and is more like the siren that calls you to the cliffs – of the rocks of your creative endeavor – rather than taking you on a magic carpet ride.

I am not sure what really to believe. On one hand, I believe that a certain amount of caution is required when dipping into the dream space to write. As, when we do, we need to have a certain “levelheadedness” even as we observe the kind of Alice in Wonderland atmosphere that may pervade such excursions. But at the same time, I believe we must be somewhat open-minded about what the dream gives us to work with.

I say this because I had an interesting experience earlier last week. One that actually prompted my discussion of this topic. I had a very revealing dream about a certain living dead creature – one I normally find myself running from, no matter if I see them in the dream or in a movie somewhere. But the dream I had about them was very intriguing. Shed some new light on these creatures and what they could be. What their potential could be outside of what Hollywood has painted them, and what many people expect that they are capable of.

After the dream, and even now almost a week after having it, I feel somewhat compelled to write on the alternate reality of these undeads. It was so real. So well put together, and yet I find a small part of myself doubting. Desiring to dismiss this information, as it came from a “dream” and was not being guided by my conscious mind. But then again I am not one to put premiums on being guided solely by the conscious mind. My unconscious mind is just as useful, as it deals more in symbolism. But even so watching myself has been interesting. Watching the resistance I have toward using my dream space to write.

But since then I have made a decision. I have decided that I will lower my inhibitions, and I will listen to the Muse in my dreams. I will let her inspire me. I will allow her to teach and guide me, and show me a new way to write.

What about you?

Have you ever written on the whims of a dream? On the feathers found in your pillow? If you have, what has been the result?

Creative Attunement February 19-26 2014: Write Like A Hermaphrodite

Well, howdy everybody! I can’t believe it, but this is only my second blog post for the new year! Not necessarily what I had planned for myself, but I’ve had some other things that have needed wordsmithing outside of this blog, so there it is. There’s my pitiful excuse for not being more regular.

But let me be a little more honest with you. I also haven’t posted in a while, because for a good month I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write about next. Nothing was coming to me exactly, but something did finally come to mind, and I felt like getting back on the figurative horse. After all, this year is considered the year of the Horse by the Chinese calendar, so we’re all good there.

First of all, I am very aware that my title for today’s blog “Write Like A Hermaphrodite” may ruffle some of your feathers. May make some of you uncomfortable, or comfortably irate.

Either way, I want to assure you that I mean no disrespect to individuals who face the challenges of living in a body with both male and female reproductive organs. They have my deepest respects, and those beautiful intersex people are perfect to help me illustrate my creative point for this week. And that is: in order to be a balanced, stable potent (prolific) writer – one who can seed Ideas, incubate them, and then give birth to them – you need to have both male and female sexual energies, and in near-perfect balance.

I know I’ve said it before in other Attunements, but I’m going to say it again anyway. Writing is a sexual activity. Not just writing, but indeed any creative act is also a sexual act. And this is because the creative act does the same thing as the intimate physical action – it disperses creative force, and from that life – or at least the potential for life is activated.

In order for a pregnancy to “take” the masculine sexual energy must persist in planting some of the ingredients, while the feminine sexual energy must persist in receiving/making womb space for the life that will emerge, while also adding material into the makeup of that life. That being.

Writers become pregnant with ideas, whether or not they are male or female writers. But in order to effectively see an idea to term – to completion – the writer must understand, and embody and then create a way of behaving with their Muses so that they may take physical form. The inability to do this in one way or another, is a sure sign that the writer has “writer’s block” but I don’t believe writer’s block exists. But the inability to create or the unwillingness to create, signals the same issue. An issue of “infertility” – one that has its roots in masculine and feminine imbalances.

I’ve seen it happen both ways, and interestingly members of the opposite sex (or the opposite energy) will have issues with the energy that they do not often embody. I have seen some of my male clients stall out on their ideas. And not because they aren’t any good, but because the idea has come to them in an explosion of inspiration, and they put the first few moments on the page, but lack the concept of nurturing. They proceed to rush the idea – rush the book – thinking that after the first month of writing, as long as they have a somewhat completed book, the process is over.

But just as in sexual intercourse, the speed at which the idea (the sperm) enters the womb (creative space) does not mean that the job is done. It means that the real work has just begun. And since the writer does not have two separate bodies, if he or she does not understand that it will take time, patience, slow, methodical and wizened words to flesh the book (baby) out, the idea will stop at its inception. It’s conception, it’s first moments, never able to escape the first dribblings of ink.

And before you start thinking that I’m going to say that this is a chiefly “male” problem – meaning only men have this issue, absolutely not. This can happen to men or women. I’ve seen it. In women, it usually happens to those who have more of a masculine – a more intense, results-oriented approach. And by no means am I trying to make broad statements. I’m simply trying to describe something about the different sexual energies we bring to any creative act, whether we are creating a child, or a literary work. The principles are the same.

The opposite is true. I have encountered clients who have too much feminine energy. Too much nurturing, and to the point of getting no movement. That the book is getting worked on, but just barely. The work becomes stagnant in its creative space, as there is perhaps too much time and too much thinking and too much babying going on with the work. In these cases, the writers (men and women) have an idea, but have grown unwilling to let it spark – let it be pushy, unpredictable and perhaps even a little territorial. They hold back the boldness, the raw energy and power in their ideas, and therefore do not allow it to thrust forward in new and different ways.

In this case the masculine energy has been severely diminished. And as such we see these writers dragging their feet – resisting either a boldness in their writing, or in keeping their writing commitments. Where the writer with too much masculine energy may be unwilling to slow down and proceed with gentleness, the other shies away from holding their pen erect. From standing tall with their ideas, and asking the world to take notice of them.

So don’t just write with female energy or masculine energy. Write with both. Write like a hermaphrodite – a creative being who is capable of sparking and nurturing a creation until it is born. For they are far from being infertile or incapable. In reality, they represent unbridled potential, and a certain level of creative virility.

One that if you ever hope to get it up, and get your book on the shelf, you’d better start learning and allowing yourself to harness.

Creative Attunement August 2-9 2013: Feed Thyself

In last week’s Attunement, I talked about the nature of Inspiration. This was not on purpose, but it seemed only natural to talk about ways we can become inspired. Ways we can “start our engines,” and get into the flow of our creativity again. There are many different ways that one can go about doing this, and I’m sure a number of writers and bloggers have already written copious amounts on the subject.

So if you want a more technical, step-by-step plan of attack, this blog post may not provide that for you. But it can still act as a guide. There can be many solutions to your “drought” – that moment in your creative lifecycle where nothing seems to be coming, nothing seems to want to continue, and you, the frustrated, and sometimes the funnel the author, look around wondering, just where did your fertile soil go? How did something that was as dark and rich as ebony, suddenly turn into a pale, dusty expanse?

It doesn’t much matter how you got there, as you can get there a variety of ways. What matters most is what you do once you realize that you’ve arrived someplace that you don’t wish to be.

My best piece of advice to myself and many other authors has always been, “If your empty – if you’ve got nothing coming up, then it’s time to fill up.” A good friend of mine also follow this advice.

She said to me once, “When my writing doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, or my words seem to be drying up, I just imagine that I’m a machine that runs on words, and that I used up all the words I had available. So all I need to do is fill it back up. So I just sit down and read, and as I read, I am filling back up my ‘word tank.”

This is such great advice, since reading, watching a play, listening to a symphony, or anything else, seems like the last thing you’d want to do. I know it is for me. When I’m in that space, I don’t feel like doing ANYTHING, let alone reading, watching or listening to things created by people who aren’t as stuck as me! But that’s where the magic is.

Because sometimes it isn’t enough to have a Muse. It isn’t enough to have a connection with the ethers. Sometimes you have to feed yourself ideas. Nourish yourself with creativity in a variety of forms, bathe yourself in words and music notes, and order to breathe life into yourself once more.

Your writing (creative spirit) is just like a fire. Most of the time your Muse is like the air, and by its presence alone can sustain this internal flame. Most of the time your Muse can also be the kindling on which your idea rests. But sometimes – sometimes – you need to add fuel to the fire. This can happen sometimes, when you have spent too much time away from your Muse, or perhaps there have been too many other influences.

It is at this time that you need other ideas, other books. Because those books, pieces of music act like flint. They provide the magnetic energy – the creative resonance – that is needed to restart you.Which is all the more reason why you would feel as if you don’t want to do this when you are feeling stuck. Because it’s the best thing for you, and as Stephen Pressfield says in his book, The War of Art, that’s exactly when the Resistance will rear its ugly head. In exactly the moment where you need to do what you need to do to rekindle your fire, Resistance will show up to keep you from that. And in this case, it’s those feelings of “I don’t want to”; “I don’t feel like it.”

But you can treat your block in creativity like a virus (not that it is some kind of disease that you’ve been infected with, because I don’t personally believe that), in the sense that you must give yourself exactly what you think you don’t want in order to feel better. How many of you have had a cold or flu and said, “I’m not hungry”?

To which a family member responded, “If you starve yourself, your feeding the cold.”The same logic applies here. If you starve yourself of books and music, you’re feeding your blockages. So if you’ve been feeling blocked at all this week, or last week, or for the last few months or even years, take this with you tonight:

Feed Thyself. And be sure to feed yourself well. Because what you “eat” will affect your creativity in the same way that junk food or organic food affects your physical body.

So stop starving yourself, and eat well. Your creativity will thank you.