Pushing Creativity

As the old man (who is playing chess against himself for a fine set of teeth in Geri's Game, above) states to The Chicken Man in Toy Story 2:

"Ya CAN'T RUSH ART."

He's right, you know. You can't rush it. Sometimes it just has to come on it's own. Which is probably the most frustrating thing I can think of.

Except people who train their dogs to hold a treat on their noses without moving. How cruel is that. You know the dog is thinking of where he can poop in your house so you'll never find it.

I'm finding that, while the surrounding situation doesn't have to be ideal, it does at least have to be somewhat conducive to creativity. It doesn't have to be FAO Shwartz....but it can't be Dr. Joyner DDS either. Times of day are big for me, too. Afternoons between 2-4 may as well be siesta. Chalk up after 9 or 10 at night as well. I've learned to recognize how I start to dip, and how I start to feel, and know that it's just time to play a few games of online Scrabble, or armorgames.com and ride it out.

However! I've also found that plugging away at something (lyrics for a song, for example), plodding and pushing and poking, counting syllables and clapping rhythms, sometimes will result in exactly what you've been looking for.

In studying Stravinksy's Petrushka (in college...it's not light reading for me), widely considered one of the most popular and acclaimed musical works of the 20th century, he stated that he would force himself to work, hours at a time in some cases, on music that he would hate and later crumple up and throw out. But, after the discipline of working, the pressing of pencil to paper, the repetition of the same melodic line over and over and over...that's when it happened.

For a brief second, everything lined up, posture straightened, something clicked, eyes widened, and pencil could not keep up with the idea. It was as though inspiration came and blew away the gritty sand to reveal the final resting place of the Ark of the Covenant.

I say all of this because I'm awaiting that inspirational intervention. I'm plodding..and as you can see by the time stamp (and the mere fact that I'm blogging) that it's nearly siesta time for me...but I'm pushing through.

I'll let you know how it all works out. (and some of you might hear how it works out, if you purchase some fantastic product from Group Publishing around, oh, say, Thanksgiving time).

And you people? Push through the boggy sludge...you might just find gold on the other side.

Free Swim

To say that I love being around creative people is a bit of an understatement.

There's just something about them. Ideas, possibilities, discussions, thoughts, all slung against a wall to see which ones are sticky. It's the only true limitless art form. Sculptors are bound by how much clay. Musicians are bound by 12 tones.

But the mind. The mind is truly limitless. That's a bit of God's ubiquitousness that one can fathom. (Yeah, go look it up.) When comprehending God's limitlessness, you can't really do it. It's not something you can wrap your brain around. But thinking in terms of possibility...you can get a sense of just how far the rabbit hole goes.

I had heard about a group of literary guys in England that had Tolkein and C.S. Lewis in it, bringing ideas and discussing books. My first thought was, how stinkin' cool is THAT? I found a blurb on about The Inklings.

"The Inklings were a gathering of friends – all of them British, male, and Christian, most of them teachers at or otherwise affiliated with Oxford University, many of them creative writers and lovers of imaginative literature – who met usually on Thursday evenings in C.S. Lewis’s and J.R.R. Tolkien’s college rooms in Oxford during the 1930s and 1940s for readings and criticism of their own work, and for general conversation. “Properly speaking,” wrote W.H. Lewis, one of their number, the Inklings “was neither a club nor a literary society, though it partook of the nature of both. There were no rules, officers, agendas, or formal elections.” An overlapping group gathered on Tuesday (later Monday) mornings in various Oxford pubs, usually but not always the Eagle and Child, better known as the Bird and Baby, between the 1940s and 1963. These were not strictly Inklings meetings, and contrary to popular legend the Inklings did not read their manuscripts in the pub."

Got me thinking about the Think Tank. It's a group that I'm a part of, splashing around in the idea pool. Right now, it's for Faith Kids. Things are changing right before my eyes, ministry, technique, media. People are getting involved where there was no opportunity to before. Ideas are planted, nutured, picked and handed out. Granted, we've only just begun (white lace and promises) but the possibilities of the Think Tank are staggering.

The possibility of the possibilities. Now that's deep. :)

So, I'm wondering. Do you have such a group? Doesn't have to be for writing epic novels...or for changing the face of Children's Ministry globally. Could be just for cooking quick meals for your rushed family. Could be a book discussion club. Could be the I.B. of T.K.D.

That's the International Benefits of Tae Kwan Do, to the commoner.

Bicycling Enthusiasts. Blueprint Collectors. Germans United Against Barney. Do you have a group of men or women that challenge and inspire you? Do you have what I like to call "below the surface" friends?

Hear me, it's NOT an accountablilty group. Didja pray today, Bob? How's your thought life, Gary?

No, this is something inspiring, not invasive. It's building up, not barging in. Find a passion, find others who share that passion, and sit and talk about it.

Heck, why do you think Star Trek Conventions are still around? Comicon is one of the largest gatherings of like-minded people on the planet. Grown men in Jedi robes. Silly to you, but passionate and inspirational to them.

Go. Find. Stir. Drink.

It's good for you.