Can Artists Be Organized?

Like many people, I struggle with being organized, both in my personal life and in my writing.  But, every now and then something lights a fire under my butt and I go into "ACTION" mode.  A day of intense house cleaning does wonders for moving your life and creativity forward.  Clearing out the cobwebs of doubt, fear, indecision, etc.  is a necessary process to ensure a healthy artistic life and push through to clarity.

Frustrated that I haven't finished a significant piece of work in a while (it happens to every writer), I called a friend of mine who's a producer in New York and someone who's opinion I trust to have a bitch and moan session.  Afterward, I decided to take  stock of where I was with my various projects.  I had a vague idea that I was juggling multiple story lines, characters, etc. in my head for some time but didn't have a clue to what extent.

After spending some time digging through piles of old notes, scanning my hard drive for computer files of character breakdowns, treatments, etc.  I realized that I had no less than seven feature films, five television shows and two novels swirling around in my head and in various stages on paper.  I was even seventy pages deep into one script idea.  I never realized I had so much material.  I actually had been very busy all along.   I hadn't seen any "real" progress because my efforts were spread thin to say the least.

Now, I found the fortitude to hunker down, focus and finish something.  I have tons to work with.  And I'm relieved to find out I haven't been meandering, wasting time getting nowhere.  I was just momentarily scattered and maybe a little dejected -- common states of emotion that all writers need to get used to.  Does any of this sound familiar?  Do you go through a similar process of creative monsoons followed by what seem like creative droughts?

Perhaps the most influential book on creativity and more importantly the psychosis of a creative person I've ever read is Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way."  In more ways than I could ever express here, she has kept me sane.  She really covers it all, rejection, self-doubt, writer's block, commitment, etc.  Her exercises are fun and effective.  She's a true lover of the creative process and understands it from the inside.  I truly urge you to take a look at her work - it will influence your own for certain.

Maybe being organized doesn't come naturally for you either but cultivating the habit of being organized can help when the ideas are pouring in on top of each other.  Organization helps us affirm that our work is valuable and has a place in the world, namely, prominently displayed!

This week's suggested website: The Poetry Foundation. Publishers of Poetry Magazine.  These guys have been around for over 90 years, well worth checking out.  (www.poetrymagazine.org) Nothing informs your imagination and feeds your creativity like poetry.  


This week's writing prompt:  Give yourself five uninterrupted minutes of quiet time. I call this exercise adding to The Golden Notebook.   I hope you'll use it for years to come.  It's a simple yet powerful tool for affirmation, a yardstick to measure your writing progress over the years, and a deep well of inspiration when you feel you may have writer's block.  Here's how I found it works best for me:  Take your favorite notebook and create a master list of the titles of all the projects you've ever contemplated undertaking.  Imagine that you've already written them all.  Then list next to each title a small logline or 3 line synopsis of that work.  Treat it as if you were asked to catalog the works of a great master.


Here's an example from my own Golden notebook.


Title: Blood and Grace
An up and coming Spanish matador develops a growing obsession with a touring Russian ballerina.




Title: Jasmine Hill
A frustrated novelist and professor of English at a prestigious New England university goes on sabbatical when she can't get a publisher interested in her latest novel.


Keep your Golden Notebook filled with the seeds of your future masterpieces.  This is where you'll come to when you're ready to plant something in the fertile ground of your writing.  The best ideas will always find a way to capture your attention and force you to plant them, fertilize them, harvest them and share the bounty.

Heroes and Masterpieces

It's an extraordinary feeling to be around great art.  It's transformative.  In a way, I was spoiled growing up in New York City with all it had to offer on a constant basis.  This week I visited The Houston Museum of Fine Arts to see an impressionist and post-impressionist exhibit.  Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet, Cezanne, Seurat, etc.  were all there in full force.  These were the masters, I thought.   Innovators that we can still marvel over.  I was struck by how bold they all were.  How outrageous the chances they took were.  The art world had never seen anything like it before.  They were treading new ground.  Over 150 years later, I'm feeling the same excitement as I looked at Van Gogh's bold lines and even bolder choice of colors.  I'm mesmerized by Seurat's ability to patiently paint one dot of color at a time until he vision was realized.  This need for boldness also exists in writing.

Also this week, I finished reading my first novel of the year.  I figured I would read this book since 2011 is the Year of the Rabbit on the Chinese calendar.   The Year of the Hare, by Arto Paasilinna is witty, inventive and full of unexpected turns.  It's a quick read about a man and a wild hare who travel all over Finland on some crazy adventures.  Again, another creative expression of boldness!  I truly liked it.


I've always been attracted to the adventure story.  I get swept away in the plot driven antics of a Pippi Longstockings or Sinbad the Sailor.  The pattern is quite well worn.  It's the classic hero's journey.  The hero enters an unkown world, makes valuable realizations about himself and the world then returns to share the wisdom he's gained on his travels.  How much bolder does it get?

A writer also needs to be bold.  A writer must take daring chances to express something that may not translate to others.  In the end, what you write may not be commercially successful, it may not be widely read, it may not be reviewed well, it may lie unpublished.  That's what makes the act of writing all that much more courageous.  Writing is having the courage to open up a topic that may be painful and others would prefer never to discuss.  Writing is daring to make a fool of yourself and revealing your childhood playfulness.  Ultimately, you have to want to express something, you have to want to touch an audience.  The same freshness that the impressionists offered is what audiences are craving for today.  They want the unique, fresh YOU.  Bold, uninhibited and honest.

A great book on this topic is Eric Maisel's, "Coaching the Artist Within."  Dr. Maisel is an author of multiple books on the creative life.  But this one is like having someone who understands what you're going through in your corner when you need it most.    Be sure to add it to your writer's bookshelf.

 This week's suggested website: Writer's Digest.  (www.writersdigest.com) is a warehouse of great  material.  They publish books and articles on all aspects of writing.  They also offer online courses, moderate discussion forums, etc.  Their tips on getting published are probably the best out there.


This week's writing prompt: Give yourself five uninterrupted minutes of quiet time.  Let's hone in on your interviewing skills.  This exercise is designed to help you get in the habit of asking penetrating questions.  Imagine that you have the opportunity to sit down with any figure in history, in any area of expertise for a private interview.  Go beyond what we already know about the person and find something that reveals character.  Did Teddy Roosevelt love the saxophone?  Did Shakespeare have a fear of mice?  Find that odd, unique or interesting detail about your historic figure that tells us, or better, shows us what kind of person he/she was.  Write for five minutes.