Creativity is a Messy Business

A colleague once shared with me that he found working at an early stage startup to be very draining and that he had very little creative juice left over to work on some of the other creative projects in his life.  I reflect on this as well and ponder the time and energy it takes even to "get back to the blog".  What about the book that I've been kicking around in my head for a while or the musical that I want to write.  

That musical project  got off to a fairly energetic start about 5 years ago.  What you say?  Five years?

What happened to it?  Good question.  The team that began working on this project still expect that we will get back to it and that we will even finish it.  We occasionally see stories or articles that remind us of our show.  Spoiler alert:  The concept is about a stray dog in New York City.  There was a news piece recently about a lost dog whose owners looked for him tirelessly for weeks. They checked the shelters, they put up posters, they did a social media campaign on Facebook.  Some kindhearted man eventually found the poor dog shivering under a bridge one night as the temperatures plummeted in the city.  He was alive, but weary and very cold.  My writing partners and I were thrilled to hear this story, not only because it is such a heartwarming story with a happy ending but because it reminded us of our project and gave us yet one more nudge to not forget it or give up on it. 

So what is it about the creative process that makes it so messy?  It is not a linear thing.  It does not fit the rules of a project with a beginning, a middle and an end.  Well, maybe in the perfect world it does, but not on my watch.  My creative projects weave and spark and then bubble in the background.  My creative projects wait for the right circumstances to bubble up and get some traction. 

Oh there are many small creative endeavors along the way.  From the most simple act of cooking a delicious meal for family and friends to arranging some beautiful flowers from the garden.  (Ah, the garden.  I yearn for the garden during this most bleak time of year.)  There is the music that I create with my dear friends every Sunday night.  And there are the ideas that percolate up at my company each week about the work that we do.  But I have found that being at my most open and creative often takes a back seat at work.  The relentless pressure to churn out work, and analyze the data and keep the wheels on the track saps so much energy that there is very little left for more fanciful and far flung ideation.  

So what's a girl to do?  Is there a strategy to keep the creative fires burning?  Maybe it's the small things that keep the engine stoked.  Maybe it's the silly holiday video that we do every year at my company that fuels me for now.  Maybe it's the occasional blog that I actually pen. Maybe it's the exhilaration of being around my most creative friends, the friends who delight me with their ideas and their humor.  These are the people I am drawn to.  These are the people that inspire me.  Yup.  I think that's it.  Play games, have fun, create beautiful spaces and prepare delicious meals.  Feed your brain and your soul with books and films and music and friends.  And then, some day.. there will be enough time and space for that book or that musical.  Just don't hold your breath.