The Creative process

You want to write? You want to tell the story that you have been carrying around with you all this time? Of course, you do! It is not only natural for you to want to tell your story, I would put it stronger than that: you have a duty to articulate your thoughts and commit them to paper.

The desire to try to capture the wonder of the world in words is a mystery in itself but, as soon as we started to use symbols to record human endeavor, stories that had previously been confined to oral traditions, began being written down. As such, they could travel beyond the borders of the tribe, the village, the country and, most importantly, they could travel beyond the time in which they were written. Rukeyzer was right when she said that the universe is made of stories, not atoms. Our stories give us context, generate reflection and enriches our experience of life. And then to write them down and make them manifest, crystalises the impulse to create, gives a sense of purpose and direction and, hopefully, enlightens the reader.

Whether you believe that the universe is an eternal creative unfolding, as Rick Rubin does, or the creative process rests solely within the human psyche, there is no doubt that the more you use it, the more it gives. The creative process is a river of inspiration that broadens and deepens the more it is drawn from; it never dries up.

And the good news is that the creative process of writing is open to everyone and anyone. There are no exclusions or exceptions. However, the difference between the writer and the one who only dreams of writing is that the writer has found their courage and have taken up their pen or switched on their laptop and created that first sentence. The thrill of that first phrase or sentence is electrifying: It all started in the hot summer of 2006 … To begin at the beginning: it was a stark moonless night … The first time I met Sophia I knew life would never be the same again …

The first sentence is the pioneer who has entered a new country, a strange land, as yet unknown and unexplored. In this country, there are no signposts indicating direction or safety. Nobody has been here before; not even you. The creative process has begun. This journey is different from those taken before. As Julia Cameron says, the creative process is a process of surrender, not control. Honour the impulse to write, seeing yourself as an artist, maybe a nervous, unconfident one, but an artist all the same, who has dared to begin an adventure which you will never regret.