“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” Maya Angelou
What an uplifting thought, isn’t it? It’s so easy and even ordinary to think of creativity as a limited resource, something that we can use up in a writing session. But what if, in the very act of writing, we are recharging our creativity battery. What if Maya’s right and creativity is like an Artesian well, where the more we pump water up, the more pressure we create, and the more pressure created, the more water gushes out? What if the more creativity we summon up, the more creativity gushes up?
Can creativity really create more creativity?
Consider your own experience — one of those rare and wonderful times when you are “in the zone” — in a state of “flow” — when time disappears and ideas just seem to pour out of you. What a wonderful feeling that is! One ideas seems to lead to another and we end up chasing them like a rabbit chasing the morning mist — racing to keep up with all that unfettered creativity. What a feeling!
Those moments may seem rare, but maybe, just maybe, it’s possible to create more of them for ourselves if we think of creativity as something that can’t be used up — something that creates more of itself as it’s used instead of being depleted.
“The more you use, the more you have.” If we start viewing creativity this way, think of the magical doors it can open for us.
One little seed of an idea can grow into something big if we keep working with it.
One image in our head can grow into a short story or even a novel, just as The Secret Life of Bees did (see Slow Build).
One word that we love and play around with can grow into a phrase and then a sentence.
One moment in a story that’s alive with dramatic possibilities can be expanded until it gains weight and significance.
What amazing opportunities lie before us if creativity is truly a bottomless well! Write on!
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Lovely! This reminds
Reminds me of The New Testament parable of the woman and the well
Hi Jackie,
Thank you so much for your lovely comment — what a wonderful and inspiring thought you had about the well of creativity — I’m so glad you shared it with us all!
Write on,
Karin