Time to Write

Do you need to suffer for your art or writing?

In the Times of India, Osho answers a question about whether creative people really have to agonize (experience agony).

  “All the creators in the West have passed through long years of suffering. Many of them have been forced to live in madhouses, and many of them have committed suicide. But still the western creator, either of meditation or of music, of painting or of dance, has not become aware of why he has to suffer.

“In the East, the situation is totally different - not a single creator has suffered. In fact only the creators have enjoyed life to its fullest. Not a single creator has been put into a madhouse, not a single creator has committed suicide; but creators have moved deeper into meditation, and many of them have become mystics. From painting, from music, from dance, they have moved deeper into their own being.

“So learn to be more meditative, and let your creativity be secondary to your meditativeness. Then you will have a totally different state of being -- that of ecstasy; and out of ecstasy, whatever is created has also some flavour of it.”

I think he may be overstating the case, but there's at least a germ of truth in his view. Perhaps one reason we agonize more in the West is that we tend to be very results-oriented. Sometimes we are so worried about whether our work will be published or produced that we lose the joy of the process of creating (I speak as a sometimes guilty party). A more meditative approach couldn't hurt!

(If you have writing or artistic goals and need some support in achieving them, sign up for my Breakthrough Strategy online coaching program. See the details at www.jurgenwolff.com)

Do you have the five traits of a great innovator?

CNN reported on a six-year study on the five secrets of being an effective innovator, conducted by professors from Harvard Business School, Insead, and Brigham Young University. The results are published in the Harvard Business Review. In brief, the great innovators are good at:

 Associating ideas and information in unique combinations;

 Questioning—being curious and not accepting assumptions automatically;

 Observing and being open-minded;

 Experimenting with new ways of thinking and doing things;

 Discovering—turning curiosity into action.

One of the professors told CNN, “Studies have shown that creativity is close to 80 percent learned and acquired. We found that it’s like exercising your muscles—if you engage in the actions you build the skills.”

One of their recommendations for developing your ability to innovate is to spend half an hour a week talking to somebody you normally wouldn’t interact with. By asking them questions, observing them, discovering their world view and being open-minded, you may find yourself coming up with new ideas.

(Another way to be more creative is to read my free monthly creativity and productivity Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send an email request to [email protected] and we’ll add you to the list.)

 

Why other people's bad writing shouldn't cheer you up

A young writer named Nicholas Maronese writes in “Excaliber” (York University’s community newspaper) that he likes the “Twilight” books because they’re so bad. He writes:

 "Meyer has shown me that you don’t have to be a great writer – scratch that, good writer, er, uh, decent writer to – Meyer has shown me that you don’t have to have half a brain to make millions of dollars as a writer. She has inspired me with her work. I now know that, if I am somehow unable to meet any of my career goals, I can always just get rich churning out unreadable drivel and marketing it to tweens."

 I have no opinion on the Twilight books, not having read them, but Maronese is making the common mistake of thinking that bad writing is easy.  Sorry, Nicholas, but you can’t fake it. The people who are writing stuff you consider drivel are fully committed to it, and if you try cranking it out in a cynical manner you are likely to find out that what you’ve written isn’t bad, it’s bad in a way that shows you’re doing it as a cynical exercise.

(You might as well write well...and if you need help, see my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other online and offline retailers.)