Dig another well, of course
We use the creative well as a metaphor for where creativity comes from. With the exception of folks like Hunter S. Thompson who augmented their creativity chemically, most of us pour a coffee, put on music and go. So what do you do when the creative well is bringing up mud instead of the clear, cold refreshment of ideas?
You dig another freakin’ well, dammit.
You can’t get more from a dry well
Let’s take the well metaphor back to the original. When you have a house with a well, and the well starts to run dry, you don’t keep trying to pump water out of it. That, folks, will clog and burn out your pump. Sure more water might come back eventually, but if the well is dry, it’s dry. Done. Tapped. So what do you do then?
You find another source of water.
It’s simple isn’t it? When I lived on Salt Spring Island I knew a lot of folks whose wells ran dry around late July-August. They couldn’t just stop using water. They just needed to find ways to get more. Some people collected rain underground for the dry times. Other people recycled. Other folks used public water sources to augment what they could still get from the well.
Creativity is exactly the same, if one creative well is tapped out, you have to find another source. You need to sink another well. This doesn’t mean you abandon the first well. You keep tabs on it. You see if it starts looking healthy again. Sometimes the well comes back, but the water is bad. Polluted, poisoned, foul. Then you cap off that well and kiss it goodbye. And that’s okay because you’ve sunk pumps in other wells you can draw from.
Drilling a new creativity well
Here’s how I’ve done it in the past. When I’m feeling creatively tapped out and need something fresh.
- Read more and read different stuff. I bounce from police procedurals to sci fi to general fiction to nonfiction all the time. I get inspired by new ideas and new voices.
- Expand your social media reading list. When I’ve been asked lately where I go to keep up, I say Medium and Refind. There are a lot of great voices here on Medium. Explore something outside of your comfort zone.
- Do something completely different. Did you know I write fiction? Not a lot. Nothing is finished, but I have a nascent series on vampires and the beginnings of a novel (working title) called Death Wardens. I’m going to kick one or both of those into gear again. I forgot about the vampire series and I want to know what happens next.
- Give yourself permission to relax. Are you sleeping enough? Too much? Not eating well? Pushing too hard. Yeah we all have to push through writer’s block to be considered real writers, but there is a limit. Remember trying to get water from a dry well will only clog and burn out your pump.
- Rant about something that bugs you. Sure this is all some folks do, but I keep this one in reserve for emergencies.
Any mixture of those will work for me (I love naps too. Oh naps are awesome for getting ideas). I tend all those wells. I visit them all and switch from well to well when one is feeling a little low.
Creativity isn’t endless, you have to nurture it
Creativity might seem endless, but all the most creative artists I know (art and music and writing), stay creative by mixing things up. Picasso worked in a range of styles and materials. Prince’s early music is similar, but different from later works. Da Vinci?—?the patron saint of polymaths?—?what didn’t that guy dabble in? Don’t take your gift for granted. Love it. Care for it. Curse it. Tend it.
And when one well is low, start looking for that next site to tap into.
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