Want to Write Better? Try Painting.
Writing Feeds on Other Types of Creativity
I am the type of person who likes to do all kinds of creative activities. Writing is just one of those things. Sometimes you hear that if you dabble in many different types of things, you will never become very good at any of them.
Jack of all trades, master of none, right?
In some sense, it’s probably true. I know for sure I’m never going to be a concert pianist because I haven’t put in the hours and focus and I never will.
Can’t I just get serious about one thing?
Sometimes I wonder if I would be better off focusing on just one type of creative pursuit. Pick one path and get serious. The thing is, I’ve never been that way. I have always been my most creative when I am like a butterfly, flitting from flower to flower, just as long as I organize myself well enough to be sure I come back and finish eventually. More on that organization here.
The Artist’s Date as fuel for your soul
I’m not the only one who has found that my writing flows better when I allow myself other creative outlets. Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way, assigns readers to take themselves on a weekly artist’s date to feed their creative soul. The Artist date could be taking yourself out to lunch or a museum, but for my inner artist, it often means scoping out the craft store or allowing myself to play with a new kind of art supply.
Natalie Goldberg’s painting feeds her writing
Natalie Goldberg is famous for her book on writing, Writing Down the Bones, but she has another book that talks about this kind of creative interplay. In her book, Living Color, she talks about her experience with painting as a hobby. At one point in mid-life, she decides it’s time to “give everything to writing.” She stops painting because she wants to buckle down and put all her energy into her novel.
Was it a good choice for her?
No!
She struggled terribly through the book for years and wanted to give up writing entirely! She realized her painting work was a deep source of her creativity in her writing. Here’s how she describes it:
When I left painting, I didn’t realize that I gave up a deep source of my writing, that place in me where I can let my work flow. When I cut out painting, I cut off that underground stream of mayhem, joy, nonsense, absurdity. Painting was what continually kept those ducts clean and open, because I never took painting seriously. Without painting, sludge gathered at the mouth of the river and eventually clogged any flow. Writing received too much direct conscious attention. I strangled it.
Natalie Goldberg in Living Color, 2014
I find this is true for me. I become more creative when I have a variety of different creative outlets, especially some that I don’t take as seriously.
It’s not just me, other creatives need painting too!
Natalie Goldberg found that she wasn’t the only artist who used other creative pursuits to fuel their main passion. She didn’t have to stop painting to make herself more successful in her writing – it was actually counter productive!
. . .By not being awake to painting’s value in my life, I nearly lost it altogether. It was no unlike cutting off my left arm, thinking it unnecessary: After all, didn’t I hold a fork, a tennis racquet, a pen in my right hand? So for four years I hobbled forward, cutting my way through the dense forest with a writing tool in my right hand, not knowing how lonely I was for painting, my lovely enricher and warm sustainer.
Natalie Goldberg in Living Color, 2014
My main creative work right now is writing, but I sew and paint and play music and do work with yarn. All of those things are fuel for my writing and for a richer life in general.
What fuels your fire?
What are your the things you use to fuel your writing work? Do you bake artisanal bread or make things with clay? Does reading all of this make you want to branch out and try something new? Let me know in the comments.
Join us at The Creative Collaborative : Are you interested in accountability and encouragement around your creative pursuits? Join our Facebook group for support and encouragement!