Creativity is a motherfucking bitch.
There are no two ways about. Anyone who’s ever messed about the creative process, ever tried to define it, explain it, ever tried to teach it, ever tried to wrestle it to the ground and produce heartbreaking works of staggering genius on a constant basis, is sooner or later dashed upon the rocks of paradox.
For creativity is a, but also b, is sometimes x, but other times definitely not x, and even though you can certainly nurture it with steps and best practices, because of how much creativity likes to break the rules, sometimes doing the exact opposite of those steps and best practices yields the creative results.
Creativity is a motherfucking capricious bitch.
And yet, like any other fool who’s tried to make creativity his bitch and ended up going slightly deranged with the effort of it, I too am making the attempt to teach you, oh enraptured reader, how to unleash the creative monster in you. Unleash I say, a creative monster, so you too, can go out into the world and inflict your creative gifts upon it, not unlike spreading a sheen of sheer silk onto soft yearning skin.
You’ll also be happier, less prone to hair-tearing and ear-slicing, bring more beauty into the world, and be an irresistible magnet to the sex of your choice.
Who’s Your Bitch?
This, my dear reader, is your first lesson: know who’s your bitch. For creativity is not like a linear, repeatable formula; a job at the assembly line that joins part A with part B and always produces part C (for Creativity). Creativity asks you to take separate elements, mix them up in ways we’ve never seen before, and produce unique results – (hopefully) every time, on budget and under deadline (deadlines; you were planning to ship, right?).
And the unfortunate truth of the matter is that with such a chaotic work-flow, you simply can’t guarantee that you’ll succeed on each creative endeavor.
I’m sorry I have to hang up my motivational speaker hat so early on and start bursting bubbles. But remember what I said about creativity? That’s right.
Creativity is a motherfucking capricious bitch.
You can work your hardest, sweat your wettest, stay up all night in your insomniac-est, worrying about how much of a hack you are and how you’ve always managed to get by, but not this time, and how humiliated you’re going to be in front of all your peers, never being able to get a job in this town again and ending up starving, unloved and full of fleas – oh, sorry. You get what I mean. You can do your utmost best, but you’ll still make some turds along the way. Because of the utter capriciousness of the creative act, you’ll win some, you’ll lose some, never batting home runs all the way. The earlier you accept that, the easier it’ll go.
And that my friend, means you are creativity’s bitch. You can seduce her, persuade her, attract her, encourage her, but you cannot force her.
But.
And this is a very powerful word in the realm of creativity: But.
If you work hard, do your best and keep on learning; the better the chances of you doing great creative work. Creativity is not (always) a matter of sheer dumb luck or creative genius. Effort is not to be discredited. Do the work, and the chances that creativity will bestow upon you her favors increase.
You cannot guarantee that you will be astoundingly creative each and every time. But you can bet that the harder you work, the more likely creativity will smile on you and help you produce those heartbreaking works of staggering genius.
You may be creativity’s bitch, but you can make her love you. A lot. Ravish, even.
How exactly, you ask?
Stay tuned, earnest reader.
P.S. In the meantime, this helps.
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I would like to take this opportunity to clarify to readers who don’t personally know the writer.
He doesn’t swear this much in real life, is quite demure and kind to friends.
Now that Im done clarifying, his alter ego in the blog is a loud, swearing, sarcastic pompous bitch.
Kinda of like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde…scary…:-)
But maybe that’s his creativity speaking
I actually found that his manner of speaking illustrated the frustration creators/artists experience perfectly.
(I for one, was motivated. and I love Elizabeth Gilbert. Thanks! – from a new reader)
Hey… I find this articles very interesting and i like to translate them in my language, so I can understand it better and share your knowledge with others… Hope you don`t mind… I don`t asume credit of the work, just for the translation in romanian. Thank You!
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