At the moment, I feel a bit empty and devoid of inspiration (see my last post).. After days of worry and effort I decided not to submit anything this month because I didn’t have much to show poeope, and what I did have didn’t seem very good. There’s no law that says I have to submit every month, so I relaxed. For a few hours I felt much more creative, but after that the difficulties returned.
Unfortunately, I’ve been doing less and less over the last couple of years, particularly the last few months. In fact, this is the second time in four months I have decided not to submit anything. At first I put it down to Covid and the infection I had a month before Covid (I always forget the actual name, but I managed to struggle through that.
The current problem is, I think, that I am trying too hard. I’m worried that I need to up the quality and it is making it harder to write. Plus, as I worry about quality, my internal editor kicks in and things I would have considered acceptable now seem sub-standard.
It’s like the pottery students.
I’m sure I’ve told this one before, so sorry if you remember it. As I get older I ramble more and repeat myself. It’s an internet story, so it probably isn’t true. Even if it is true I doubt they would be able to do it these days.
Anyway . . .
A lecturer told half his pottery students that their marks for the year wo0uld be based on the weight of pottery they produced. No mention of quality, subject or technique – just weight. He told the other half that their marks would be based on them making one superb pot.
Guess which group produced the highest quality pot? That’s right, the ones who had been told they would be awarded marks based on weight.
It seems they set to, producing pots in a relaxed manner and, concentrating on quantity, became good potters because of they gained a lot of experience. The other group, trying for one perfect pot, never managed to work to the full extent of their abilities because they over-thought it.
I used to work by throwing words onto paper and then shaping what I ended up with. I always had work to submit and it seemed to be OK as plenty was published. Now that I try to write better poetry, with more technique and complexity, I am finding it much harder and nothing much seems to measure up.
Tomorrow I am going to clear out a lot of my work in progress and then I’m going back to my old ways – lots of words and less self-criticism. Let’s see what happens.
I agree, Simon, that sounds like a good plan. Let the creativity be spontaneous and fun. And you are right, balance is the key. I look forward to your new poems.
I’m in the first phase. I find relaxing comes easily to me, as it is very much like watching TV and drinking tea. 🙂
Creativity is a delicate thing. If you try too little, nothing happens. If you try too hard, you get all messed up in your head and the fun and the magic gets sucked away. I recognize and empathize with your struggle, Simon. xo
I am going to relax and refocus. I write for enjoyment, so if I’m not enjoying it, everything becomes pointless. On the other hand I also enjoy being published too, so can’t relax too much. A balance must be found. 🙂
Exactly right – and that balance can be quite elusive. Relax and refocus is the perfect attitude. I do find that small successes help. A little boost (I started a new poem today.) can really get the ball rolling.
I’ve made a start by dusting off some old work and looking for some new magazines for submissions. Good luck with your new poem. 🙂
Good story and perhaps good advice too. Perfection can be the enemy of the good.
More words, less worry. 🙂
Lots of words and less self-criticism sound like an good plan. In the excellent YA book “In Summer Light” by Zibby O’Neal, the father, an artist, sums it up like this about painting: “Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but every day you try.” I’m paraphrasing from memory, but it seems to me this is true of all art forms. Last week, I had to pretty much delete a whole chapter in the new book I’m working on. It didn’t work, but next day I was back writing again.
I started blogging as a way of getting more words on paper. Some of my blog posts are the result of deleting more words than I actually post, so I identify with your struggle. 🙂
As the late, great E.B. White observed, omit needless words. Not always easy.
Looks like a good plan – I hadn’t read the pottery story before, but I guessed the right answer before you revealed it – there must be something in it
I am going to try to be a bit more laid back. It’s not as if I need to write to earn a living. 🙂