The Creative Process can be a Magical and Mystical Journey!

For most people who are not writers, authoring something may seem like a pretty straightforward endeavor.

You have an idea, so you sit down and write it out, then you publish it and sell it. The End.

There are — perhaps — a tiny handful of writers on the planet for whom it is that simple. Often they are seasoned published authors who are starting their 34th book... and the entire process is pretty "old hat" to them.

For most writers — and particularly those laboring over their first manuscript — the process of writing is more like giving birth. Strike that... it's more like the entire relationship process, from meeting someone, to forming a relationship, to falling in love, to eventually (perhaps!) giving birth.

In many cases, writing a book is about a lot more than just "writing a book."

It becomes a journey of creativity and self-discovery that often takes years. For example, a recent client I worked with spent the better part of twenty years getting from the point of having the original idea to being ready for publication. 

We are often hard on ourselves because we feel like it's a personal failing that we "can't just sit down and distill our idea into a finished manuscript in 90 days."

After all, we meet all sorts of other project deadlines in our lives, all the time. 

Right?

But that's rarely how the creative process works. And I say that, both as a writer, and as an artist. Creativity ebbs and flows, and when we're not feeling creatively inspired, chances are we wouldn't be happy with the outcome, if we were to try to force ourselves.

Besides, we would miss out on the magical and mystical moments of insight and self-discovery that often goes hand-in-hand with the creative process.

So, why not just let your creativity flow at its own natural pace? Sometimes that pace might be three weeks of frenetic activity followed by five months of dormancy — but that's really OK, too!

Thanks for reading, and remember to enjoy the process!

The Value of the Informal "Conversational" Voice

"I can't find YOU, in there!"

It's a statement I remarkably often make to people who share their writing with me.

What I mean by that is that I will read someone's article or book and it is so wrapped up in the "factual" that I have no sense of the author's voice.

I have heard musicians say that they can tell when a piece of classical music is played by a computer, because it lacks "soul." 

So it is, with writing.

Often, this is a result of having been taught — probably in high school or freshman English in college —that the "proper" format for writing is "3rd person, singular."

I suppose it also explains why I tend to turn down invitations to edit mechanical or scientific papers and books. I'm more interested in people stories than thing stories. 

On Being Compelling

With the advent of the Internet and self-publishing there is just so much writing out in the world that a major part of creating a compelling personal brand is that you need to have a "human voice" that comes through to the reader.

If you don't, you become just another voice that fades into the noise of the crowd.

Indeed, we were told in school to not use first person when we write! But what makes a book about your experiences in India compelling is that they are YOUR experiences... not the experiences of some undefined "it" that could be any one of several hundred decent travel or spiritual writers. 

I also spent many years working in marketing and advertising, and one of the most important concepts in getting a product seen is "differentiation."

When you write something, your unique angle — your differentiation — is that it's your story. So don't take yourself OUT of the story, just because some grammar book or style manual said to do so!

And, to be perfectly blunt about it, if the thing that matters most to you is grammatical accuracy? I'm probably not the right editor for you...

So, write from the heart!