Creative Genius

Creating the best novel, short story or poem may just be on your agenda today, but are you ready for second best?

I don't know about you, but whatever I write, I want it to be the best work that I can put out. Does that mean it will be the best thing out there, walking hand in hand with the likes of C.S. Lewis?



Photo by: epSos.de, courtesy of Flickr

Not exactly. But it might.

Creative genius is a little like looking inside yourself for the good stuff and getting it out on paper just the way you see it. Is this always possible?

I remember writing "A River of Stones" 10 years ago and wanting to skim over the hard parts. It was far easier to merely mention that dad had left the family, far harder to talk about how the separation hurt. It was like I'd lost a part of myself. I wondered how I could keep going when I felt as if my love meant nothing. I wondered how a father could leave a family of children. Did he love us?

Now that I've stepped back from the situation I can see that it was the best thing. I grew up. I could see that my mother wasn't happy in her marriage, and I could see that she deserved a happy life. 

Was her life perfect after the divorce? No. But she met a new man and this man has stuck around, loved her, and cared for my brother and I like we were his own.



Photo by: gnuckx, courtesy of Flickr

And we are.

Creative genius is a little like hope I think. It's about reaching out and giving our writing everything and then waiting for the results that come from within. It's about sharing with others what we create, and no matter what the response (both positive and negative) we know we have been honest in our creation. Creative genius may not take a lot of time but it does take some work traveling through the hard stuff.

Will you make a visit?