Being creative is not easy. We are often too critical of ourselves and our creative output. Our work never meets our own expectations. It is tempting to compare ourselves to others. Sometimes I wonder why I do anything . . . or why I think I can do anything worthwhile.
The only reason I manage to do anything is in the hope that it will be meaningful to someone.
— Peg Thompson (b. 1957) American composer and writer
The world welcomes new creations. We do not have to be completely original. All creativity is important because it expresses something that only that artist can express. No two people who have ever lived or who are here now have the same experiences and input into their lives.
It cannot for a moment be doubted that an art work to be alive, to awaken us to its life, to inspire us sooner or later with its purpose, must indeed be animate with a soul, must have been breathed upon by the spirit and must breathe in turn that spirit.
— Louis Sullivan (1856-1924) American architect
To blindly follow our creativity takes courage—or maybe it requires a willingness not to worry about the outcome—to concentrate only on the fact that you are making something. Create with a childlike abandon—as if no one were watching. You are watching, and you must be important to yourself.
And here is why I keep writing—because sometimes, music or words carries someone back to a moment like this . . .
A choir member told me this story after she had sung my anthem, God Is There. She grew up on a farm near Arab, Alabama and would often go with her father out on the farm while he worked. He would take a large thermos of water and set it by a tree. To pass the time, she would play on the tree. It had been hit by lightning and was easy to climb. She would climb up and then slide down on the part which the lightning had made smooth. She would often sit at the top, on a branch, and sing songs she had learned in Sunday school. When she sang them, afterwards she would feel a breeze blowing through the leaves . . . as if God were speaking to her. It was a very special time for her. The first time she sang my anthem, she remembered this childhood experience which had been important to her.
The first verse of God Is There:
In ev’ry whisper
In ev’ry whisper of the wind
Listen to the still small voice
God is there
In this blog (here), I describe the process of writing this anthem. “Along the way there is crying and gnashing of teeth, as I wonder why I even started.” That may sound like hyperbole, but I assure you it is not. I never know what I am doing. I simply make myself keep pushing forward—trusting and hoping that the creative muse has not wrongly chosen me to do its bidding.
I am reminded of two quotes that give me inspiration when I doubt.
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it.
It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you.
Keep the channel open . . . No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others
— Martha Graham (1894-1991) American modern dancer and choreographer
. . . I’ve yet to meet a single one called to songwriting by mistake. The calling knows what it is doing when it taps someone on the shoulder and whispers, “Write.”
— Mary Gauthier (b. 1962) American singer-songwriter and author
So I circle back to the question: why do I do anything? I keep writing not because I am sure of myself, but because the muse refuses to let go. When a song or a story connects with someone else, that is even more reason. That is why I keep going. Creating makes me alive.
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