Progressing in Fits and Starts

It's a well-known educational truth that people's learning doesn't follow a nice, even, upward line. We often progress in fits and starts. Sometimes we'll seem to be making really good, fast progress, then suddenly we'll appear to get stuck at a certain level for a while, then again we'll start to progress rapidly.

It's a bit like the way children grow. Any parent will know that sometimes a child's clothes will seem to last for ages, then all of a sudden they outgrow everything. I see that when I compare my son with his contemporaries. For ages, my son will be the tall one in the group, a good half-head taller than his friends. Then I'll see them all again a couple of months later, and they'll have nearly caught up with him.

Progressing in fits and starts can be a little bit disconcerting when you're trying to master a new skill. It's all very well when you feel as if you're making rapid progress, but it can be really frustrating when you hit a patch when you appear to be stuck or, even worse, when you appear to be sliding backwards. It's especially worrying when you don't understand why you've ended up in this stuck patch.

This is something that affects creative people too, both when we're learning our new craft and when we're practising it professionally. It would be lovely if everything were predictable and we were so in control of our creativity that we could maintain a steady output, nicely spread over the year, with spaces for holidays.

But in real life, it just doesn't happen like that. All we can do is be grateful when things are going well, when we are full of ideas, when we are working fast and delighting ourselves by our output. And when we hit a plateau and things aren't going too well, the best thing to do is not to worry about it.

Remember that change is one of the constants of life. Our mantra for the tough times must be 'This too will pass.' We will become more productive; the barriers to our understanding will be lifted; eventually, we will be on an upward trajectory once again.

Have faith - and trust in your creativity!

Food for Your Writing Soul

Presumably you're interested in writing if you've chosen to read this writing blog, but are you interested in the other arts as well? I don't mean are you any good with a paint brush or can you dance a nifty battement tendu. I mean, do you take the time to look at artwork, go to exhibitions, study sculptures, listen to Liszt, watch ballet by Balanchine?

If you're producing work in one of the arts on a regular basis, it's important to feed your creativity by taking in inspiration from other art forms. This is the reason why Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way advocates having a weekly artist's date - a time you spend alone doing something that will feed your creativity, like going to an art gallery or an opera or even spending time in a flower shop just taking in the colours, shapes, textures, scents of the blooms.

If you give, give, give of your creativity all the time, but never top up your reserves, your creative reservoir will soon run dry. See what you can do this week to feed your writing soul.