Run the tap before you drink the beer
Here’s a conundrum about writing and creativity:
We need to generate creativity in order to write.
Creativity creates something out of nothing.
And nothing is a terrible place to start feeling generative.
So, how do we generate creativity?
Creativity as a tap
The creative brain is a little bit like a tap or a faucet. For the first few seconds, the beer is going to be all foamy. Or, the water is gonna run a little rusty or cloudy. Technically, you could drink that beer or that water, but yucko.
So what do you do? You run the tap or the faucet for a few seconds, until you get — the metaphors just write themselves sometimes — a little more clarity.
Running the tap first is a great metaphor for why I teach creativity and writing in three layers, but it’s also a great metaphor for many things: Playing sports or a game you haven’t played for a while (when we are ‘rusty’). Speaking a language you’re not fluent in (beer literally helps, in this case). And, of course, creativity of all kinds.
Before you run the tap, you need to be able to survive
I’m going bold and italic on this one: Your survival brain trumps your creativity brain. In fact, it’s life and death. You can get by perfectly well your entire life hunting and eating nuts and berries while running from saber-tooth tigers. But, if you get all fancy with newness, innovation, or creativity — maybe you could invent fire, language or, god forbid, writing — without checking your surroundings first, you’re very likely dead.
So, to produce anything new that requires creative thinking or creativity, you need boundaries. Literally, in the case above.
Think of it as building a fence or finding a safe cave for your creative brain. You need a safe place to avoid or ward off those saber-tooth tigers while you bang together rocks and sticks in order to start that spark (again with the metaphors that write themselves). Or, hey, once you have your fence or cave, you can even bring a friend and grunt at each other until ‘Meow meow grr!’ becomes auditory shorthand for “Saber-tooth tiger, dead ahead!”
Running the tap is the first layer
I’ll talk about the second layer next week, but know that the first layer is as easy as 1) creating a safe space and 2) opening the tap.