Signposts and Guides for the Creative Life

I'm reading Maya Angelou's The Heart of a Woman for a book club.  (This is the fourth volume of her six volume autobiography)  What a life she has led!  She has done everything!  She's seen highs and lows, has suffered and danced.  She admits that she's not the best at some of the things she's done:  she sang and danced for a living and some people said she wasn't the greatest singer.  But people came to see her - she was such an entertainer.  She is often remembered for her poetry - yet she doesn't get great acclaim from "professional" poetry circles.  She took over for Bayard Rustin as the northern coordinator of the SCLC to assist Martin Luther King's efforts.  She had no experience in this kind of thing, but she used her talent for  organizing and her personal charisma to do work that she felt strongly committed to.

This quote of hers made me laugh:  in  talking about what she does to write, she said " I also wear a hat or a very tightly pulled head tie when I write.  I suppose by doing that I will keep my brains from seeping out of my scalp and running great gray blobs down my neck, into my ears and over my face."

I imagine when you've got so many ideas, you're balancing so many activities, that that's about what it feels like when you sit down to concentrate.  And to actually do implement a physical reminder to focus could be useful.

If you've never read any of her works, I would recommend picking one up - she's an engaging writer, who has a good story, an earthy woman you'd like to meet.

Signs and Guideposts for the Creative Life, October 7, 2012

Maya Angelou says " You can't use up creativity.  The more you use, the more you have."  And she should know.  What an inspiration she has been for decades, for thousands and thousands of people.

I wonder if she ever experienced nearing completion of a book, or a project and felt that little niggling,  "Oh, can I do this again?  Is there something else out there for me to latch onto? "

Early on, with my painting, I felt that way.  I might surprise myself with some piece that felt successful and then want to stay there, to work those ideas out.  Part of that is valid.  We come up with an idea that could be improved with some playing, tweaking, sweating, moodling. Part of it may also come from some fear that moving on means leaving a safe place, that maybe we won't be able to birth a living thing, but only some little stiff replica.

And I've given birth to many odd little things along the way, to be sure.  We aren't guaranteed that our efforts will always produce wonderful meaningful stuff.  But it does feel to me that my creativity has increased - in other areas of my life besides just the painting.  It's as though there are more neural pathways running through my brain.  The scary part of that is there are more ways to get lost.  The wonderful part is that I'm having some great adventures that I never would have anticipated.

How about your journey - where has it taken you and does that come as a surprise?  Do you feel more confident as you go along?  Or is it still a little scary?