The Odd Economy of the Creative

I was told that my last blog was lame. But I was forgiven. Thank you blogging community! With that fresh start let me talk a little bit about something that I have met face first this week.

writer's block

I was supposed to write a monologue for my creative writing course. I enrolled in this course (at PCC) to give me an outlet and structure for working on my writing. And so far it had done its job well. Until this project.

I had set aside 3 and a half hours on Monday to work on my monologue, for which I had 3 or 4 ideas. Three hours later I had four sentences written, none which I liked.

So the next day found me, again, setting aside three hours for this project. After which I still had nothing, but instead fell asleep on my couch, pen in hand. I panicked.

So today at work I set aside time to work on this project and sentence by painful sentence constructed half a page of text. That I didn't like.

I was stuck.

And so I did what I knew I had to do. I threw it all out.

And the next idea that popped in my head I ran with, and had a rough draft in 25 minutes.

And so I am left realizing that the economy of the creative is an odd economy. Hours of work are necessary, but do not guarantee success. And in the end all it takes is one idea.

I don't usually work well in this economy. It is an economy of serendipity, of chance, of moment, of grace. I like the time I clock in to count. And when it doesn't I quickly spiral out. And it gives me pause to think and wonder if perhaps I can learn something small from the economy of the creative.