On Creative Genius
I came across a couple links to a lecture by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, at this year’s TED talks. You can watch it here (and I recommend you do).
Her main point is that it’s unfair and stressful, even depressing, to label someone as a “creative genius.” She explains how in the past, the genius was regarded as something separate from the artist, and the benefits to this point of view. I think that her message is important, but I’m more encouraged by the implications of one of her illustrations.
Gilbert describes sitting down to write and essentially having a meeting with her creative genius. Her point is that sometimes the genius doesn’t show up for the meeting; I think a corollary to this is that the successful artists are those who show up every time that the genius does. Of course, to guarantee this, you’ll have to show up all the times that the genius does not, too. In fact, it’s probably best to show up every day for a wide window of time, in case your genius is running late or misreads his calendar.
You’d probably refer to this habit as “self-discipline.” It’s a quality I tend to struggle with. I’m getting better at it, though. It helps to have people who are successful at harnessing their creative genius (like Elizabeth Gilbert, Stephen King, the How To Make Webcomics team, and others) pounding that point into my head over and over.
For today, though, it’s encouraging just to hear that I don’t have to be a genius. It’s enough to tap into one.