Ericka Lutz Fiction and Nonfiction Writer, Teacher, Editor, Performer

Treading Water

by Ericka Lutz

July 26, 2008, 4:10 pm

Stalled Car

Advice please. What do you do to regenerate creatively? Or are the ideas for projects just there inside you, lined up like eggs in ovaries waiting for their chance to develop and pop?

I ask this seriously, because frankly? I'm not ovulating ideas, here. I'm vamping. Not the Theda Bara kind of vamping, not the Anne Rice kind. The musical kind. Another eight bars waiting for the lead singer to come in. And another eight bars waiting for the lead singer to come in. And ANOTHER eight bars....

I do believe in waiting, in seasons, in letting things ripen. It's midsummer, my traditionally dry period. I'm blogging my heart out, I'm doing writing exercises, I'm waiting to find a story, I'm waiting for inspiration, I'm being gentle and loving to myself, and no, don't worry, I'm not worried or miserable -- life's pretty awesome. But I am getting just a teensy weensy bit frustrated.

Jack London said, "You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." But it's starting to feel a bit whack-a-mole in here. I go after an idea -- whack -- and it disappears down a hole. And is that another one over there? Whack. And isn't his imagery a little violent, a little overly testosterone driven?

What do you do -- if you're ever in this situation -- when the inspiration dries up for a week, a month, two months, all summer? When the whack-a-moles elude the club? When the musicians vamp for hours? When the starter revs and revs but the motor doesn't turn over?

I've written all my life, I know the juice will eventually come back; an idea will arrive, the motor will finally turn over, and I'll find my way back to the Bliss. Something will happen, it always does.

But I could sure as hell use a jumpstart. Got any cables?

 

Tags:

sonshi (not verified) says:

What I do

I take a nap.

Sat, 07/26/2008 - 2:19pm — sonshi (not verified)

Ellen R. Sheeley says:

I have the opposite problem.

I have the opposite problem. . .more ideas than time to pursue them.  :-(

Sat, 07/26/2008 - 6:51pm — Ellen R. Sheeley

Ericka Lutz says:

How fortunate, Ellen! Or

How fortunate, Ellen! Or maybe it's that I don't have a lot of time, so I need to make sure that the idea I choose to pursue is the right idea....

Sat, 07/26/2008 - 6:55pm — Ericka Lutz

Shana McLean Moore says:

Don't make me hate you, Ericka

Dude, seriously. If you are in a creative low when you come up with lines like "lined up like eggs in ovaries..." or "I'm vamping. Not the Theda Bara kind of vamping, not the Anne Rice kind. The musical kind. Another eight bars waiting for the lead singer to come in. And another eight bars waiting for the lead singer to come in. And ANOTHER eight bars...." then I have not once ever experienced a creative high in my life.

Sister, your analogies are priceless. You are NOT in creative menopause... or even in an unwanted creative pregnancy that will delay the dropping of eggs for another 9 months.

Crap! My creative ideas to respond to you are finished here, because I almost told you to go forth and fornicate. :)

Sat, 07/26/2008 - 8:48pm — Shana McLean Moore

Belle Yang says:

LOL

I am like Thomas.  I sleep.  Sleep is so delicious and good for the ovaries and other reproductive glands.

Sat, 07/26/2008 - 11:16pm — Belle Yang

Ericka Lutz says:

Belle and Thomas

Oh yes, I DO appreciate sleep, believe me! I think it's good for the creative process and the body. (She writes, at 5 a.m. in a bout of insomnia..)

Sun, 07/27/2008 - 5:04am — Ericka Lutz

Ericka Lutz says:

Ha!!

This made me laugh, and thank you so much for the compliments, Shana. Guess I've got my analogies are all dressed up and no place to go... (oh is that another?) Um... not really a creative low, just no project. Vamp. Vamp.

Sun, 07/27/2008 - 4:59am — Ericka Lutz

Cheryl L Snell says:

Inspiration

Sometimes it helps to forbid yourself to write for a certain period. Or (more gently) to give yourself permission not to. But it sounds to me as if you're doing the equivalent of practicing scales. Necessary work while your subconscious does its thing.

ps: Your post gave me the idea for the poem on my blog, so I owe you!

Cheryl Snell www.shivasarms.blogspot.com

Sun, 07/27/2008 - 4:47am — Cheryl L Snell

Ericka Lutz says:

I'm impressed!

I love the poem on your blog, that's wonderful tht this post inspired it. Yes, maybe I should just give myself permission to do scales for a while. Patience has never been a strong trait of mine... guess it's time to work on it.

Sun, 07/27/2008 - 5:06am — Ericka Lutz

Kristy Kiernan says:

I stop writing completely

I stop writing completely and organize. Closets, cabinets, under the beds. I start in one corner of one end of the house and work my way to the other. I'm sure there's some great metaphor about clearing out the mental clutter, blah blah blah, but once I'm about half way through the house I think I figure out that I'd much rather be writing and, voila, here come the words.

Yeah, I wish it were more glamorous too...

 

Sun, 07/27/2008 - 9:28am — Kristy Kiernan

Sandra Ann Miller says:

Jumper Cables

See, I clean to avoid writing.  You know, there's a big scene about to happen and you aren't quite ready to dive in.  That's when my house gets really clean.

When I'm staring at a blank page, I'll usually go back and edit previous pages, listen to good music (Rufus Wainwright's "Want One" CD...there's no way I can listen to that and not be inspired), go for a change or scenery/people watching or re-read an old story and remember what brought me to write that.  Creativity can be contagious that way.  However, there are times when the writing won't come because I'm not writing what I really should be writing.  I'd rather be tackling a smaller project than a bigger one.  The smaller one won't come and suddenly I'm "blocked".  So, Ericka, is there a bigger project you should be starting?

Sun, 07/27/2008 - 9:55am — Sandra Ann Miller

June Casagrande says:

Brainwave flat-lining

I stare out the window in complete silence. I drive in complete silence. Sometimes I sit in the dark, staring at the room itself, in complete silence.

This isn't when the ideas come. Quite the opposite: it's when all that noise in my head can clang freely.

But when I've done that enough, my head becomes my own.

Sun, 07/27/2008 - 10:14am — June Casagrande

Jennifer Gibbons says:

okay Ericka, I answered you...

in a long, long blog:
http://www.redroom.com/blog/jenniferkate/pure-imagination

see if this helps as well:
http://www.redroom.com/video/pure-imagination

Sun, 07/27/2008 - 11:47am — Jennifer Gibbons

Ericka Lutz says:

Thank you Jennifer...

Thank you Jennifer... excellent blog (and I'm glad my current lack of inspiration has inspired you.)

Sun, 07/27/2008 - 6:15pm — Ericka Lutz

Ericka Lutz says:

Cleaning, Organizing, Staring into Space...

Good ploys. Thank you for those jumper cables! And I took a nap today. It was luscious.

Sun, 07/27/2008 - 6:14pm — Ericka Lutz

Thaisa Frank says:

inspiration

this is what I think: that the moment of inspiration is fallout from the silent times--it's like the crest of the wave that we see

so I don't worry

I also give myself plenty of time to sit wherever I'm working and stare into space; it might take a couple of hours, but the crest of the wave comes--less in the form of inspiration, than a sudden rush of discipline that says "I have to write these five pages *now*"

 I guess this is the reptilian-brain approach to writing; I just sit there like a lizard and eventually something happens :) 

Wed, 07/30/2008 - 12:11pm — Thaisa Frank