Saturday, November 10, 2012

Creativity Matters

I've thought a lot about this blog and what I want to accomplish with it.  Blogging, it seems, is on its way out.  People spend more time on Twitter and Facebook, than on blogs.  It's just the way the world works.  I remember when everyone was on LiveJournal because it was THE place.  And before that, I remember that you weren't really a presence on-line unless you had a free page from Geocities.

But the truth of the matter is that I am not, by my nature, a social person.  Twitter makes my teeth hurt and Facebook seems to want into every aspect of my life.

So I suppose I'll keep blogging, even if no one else does.  But I want to figure out how to do something with this blog.  I'm sure everyone loves to listen to me ramble about crap, but I'd like to figure out a way to make this blog useful to people.  And to me.  To that end, I'll be focusing more on creativity.  On the pursuit of it, how to foster it, how to have it in your life.  I'll focus on writing, writing better, and writing things you love.

We'll see how that goes.

Anyway...

So I've been writing my short story for inclusion in the forthcoming GRIM anthology.  From the moment Christine asked me if I would be interested, I had a story in mind.  And I've been developing it in my head for months.

I wrote a rough draft of it just to do some exploration.  I liked the direction.  But I had to put it aside for a while to do FML copy edits and to work on another project.  I picked it back up a few weeks ago and started writing it again.  But I noticed that something felt off.  It wasn't pushing the boundaries.  It didn't feel like I was upping my game at all.

I mean, the list of authors in this anthology is intimidating, so I wanted my story to really stand out.  But I felt crushed.  I'd just moved and taken a new job.  So much of life was coring out my creative guts.

Then I heard a song.

I've never been much of a Beatles fan.  My mom was more Motown than The Beatles, so that's what I grew up listening to.  But a while back, I bought Abbey Road on a whim.  I listened to it, liked it, but didn't think much else of it.  Until a few days ago.  I was loading music onto my phone for the work commute and I put that album on.

As I sat in traffic, Oh! Darling came on.  I must have listened to it a dozen times on the way to work.  Something about it sparked my imagination.  The needy, obsessive, almost creepy tone to the song got me thinking about my characters and the story I'd been writing.  The way McCartney's voice was so raw, told a story beyond the song.

Anyway, I finished the short story today and it wouldn't be what it is if I hadn't heard that song.  The best thing a writer can do is expose himself to things that challenge him.  Go places and do things and listen to music that scares and inspires you.

Inspiration is everywhere if you only take the time to look.

2 comments:

  1. For the first year of being a blogger, I was still figuring things out. For the second year, I was kicking ass, writing all the best posts, and just being a general blogging bad-ass. This year ... I'm not sure. I think I've run out of things to say. Sigh.

    But that's awesome about your short story. I love the Beatles. They were my mom's favorite band. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the anthology.

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  2. Thank! I really love this short story.

    I know what you mean. Sometimes I'm not sure what I'm doing with my blog. However, your blog offers a lot of great things to a lot of people. So I hope you keep it up.

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