Author: Ross Andrews

The opposite of voting

…is abstaining. If you abstain, you no longer have a valid opinion on the outcome of the election.

In creativity terms, abstaining occurs often. People have a knack for not bothering to show up each day to try to make something great. Too many times I have seen someone claim to have a creative streak, or to be a creative person when really they just talk about acting, or singing or writing a book which never sees the light of day. If you say you are a musician when in fact you haven’t touched a guitar in 3 months…you’re abstaining. You’re not creative.

I think this happens quite often, particularly if you USED to be creative at one point, but then lost your mojo. Abstaining from creativity and harking back to a time when you bothered is an easy, convenient excuse. But it’s still just an excuse.

The good news is that all it takes is a decision to try, and hey presto you are creative once again.

And so I write this blog. And I am a valid part of the creativity conversation once again. It’s not much, but then again that’s all it takes to get the mojo back again.

Go, create something. And if you are American, go vote.

Play

Little children play in various ways.Due to the broad nature of play in childhood, it has proved notoriously difficult to define and empirically explore. Scientific studies of creativity have basically concluded that it can’t be taught, as it is a “facility” rather than a learned skill. Putting it very crudely, creativity is the ability to play. And, to be able to turn that facility on and off when necessary.

I consider myself creative, playful and prone to fantasy. I know others who are not like this, and probably never could be and therefore the scientific studies and their results make a lot of sense to me.

To think of writing as ‘playing with words’ sometimes frees me up in the creative process. The pressure to produce and ship something is lessened when I think that all I have to do is start playing and poking around, and eventually something will come up that is mildly interesting, inspiring and then publishable.

If you get stuck on a project, start playing with all the boundaries and assumptions you make on that project. Just to play with it all might free you up.

 

 

Attitude

A pickup full of men is getting ready to leave the car park of the local grocery. They are ready to go to work. A vehicle that should hold no more than four is crammed to the rim with ten in the back and four in the cabin. Sardines in a tin with no roof, they are pressed up against each other in the back. In the front it is the same, except the roof is on. They are shouting and joking and sipping tea to warm up in the morning before hard labour begins.

A lady with jewels and fine clothing is walking to her luxurious car in the same parking lot. She looks disdainfully at the crammed pickup and mutters something about safety. She is white and the car is all black. She disapproves. The pickup falls silent, movement reduced to steam floating out of the teacups. A negative moment so early in the morning. She definitely will not have to work as hard as the pickup full of men today.

Walking to my own car I saw this unfolding and decided to try to counteract the negative vibes. I lifted my leg over the edge and pretended to launch myself into the pickup – much laughter and the men tried to drag me in with them. After we settled down, I asked them where they were going – a building site down the road. One man from the cabin of the pickup says I should come along. I explained that I had to get home to my daughter.

Less judgement, more interaction, more communication, more positivity. It really made a difference to the situation.

Have a nice day.

 

 

Superfluous

superfluous
suːˈpəːflʊəs,sjuː-/
adjective
  1. unnecessary, especially through being more than enough.
    “the purchaser should avoid asking for superfluous information”
    synonyms: surplus, redundant, unneeded, not required, excess, extra, spare, to spare, remaining,unused, left over; More

Blocking out the superfluous. Effective filtration of crap. This is the biggest battle in most of our lives, and of course it isn’t just about finding time to write – it is about our psychological state, life on the internet, and creating any art.

I am into creating something from nothing. It’s the most important thing to be creative rather than destructive, and yet it takes time and that means it takes away from something else that may be easier for your brain to handle. Facebook? Exercise? TV? Socialising?

The thing is (there’s always a thing, isn’t there?) that most of the time, the other stuff has plenty of time….certainly enough time…. allocated in your day anyways. The other stuff is mostly (in my case anyways) the path of least resistance. To give yourself one hour a day to just create something from nothing is not going to bring the world to its knees. Quite the opposite.

And so I made myself write this post, and I make myself block out the superfluous stuff from my calendar more and more. Funnily enough, it also applies to the living space: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/02/17/effects-of-clutter_n_9255032.html

Friday Fun – Reblog – Two kinds of filters — Seth Godin’s Blog on marketing, tribes and respect

Seth Godin just makes sense to me. Today’s post on filtering the net is so on the money. I aim for the sort of discipline he exudes.

Here’s a link after a quote:

“There’s the filter bubble of the internet, in which we willingly surround ourselves only with information sources with which we agree, soon coming to the conclusion that everyone agrees with us. The other kind is the filter we can choose to build to avoid falling into a rabbit hole of wasted time, misogyny and dissatisfaction.…”

via Two kinds of filters — Seth Godin’s Blog on marketing, tribes and respect

Rant

If the only thing you have to write about is how tired you are, or how terrible things are these days, or how little hope you have for the future, then I am not interested.

Give me people who take action over those who post despair to make an impact.

Give me someone who is creating something beautiful over someone who is scouring and searching for something to complain about, all the while playing it safe every day.

Rant over. Time to go make something awesome.

 

Dune update

Over the weekend I have been away on plane flights and had evenings alone in bed and breakfasts which has given me time to get further into Dune.

What a book!

The flaws in the father’s character are becoming apparent, and the interactions with the local Fremen are adding an extra dimension to the tale.

It is such an engaging book, I think of it like a microscope which is gradually zooming in closer and closer to the inevitable war and dangers on the planet of Arrakis. Detail and nuance is getting more and more….well detailed! and Nuanced!

There is no turning back for any of the characters, only forward into the desert.

Love it.

Thoughts on Dune

I managed to read a hefty chunk of Dune today (I have read 17% of the book). It is wonderful in its focus on just the right details.

Often when I write I become overwhelmed by the sheer scale of limitless possibility in fiction. The options are endless. The trick is getting the right boundaries in place to make believe.

Dune does this so well. The author is very precise and clear in their characters, images, its fictional folklore and worlds. Also, the pace at which the story is building is excellent too. A sense of tension and impending doom for some characters is mixed with excitement at retribution and glory for others.

Needless to say, I am completely hooked.