I love noticing connections across disparate patches of life: how dance infuses writing and gardening infuses art and art infuses dance.
I’m still processing the many workshops at last weekend’s writing conference, reviewing my notes, and appreciating the session titled “Refilling Your Creative Well,” led by graphic novelist/writing coach James Persichetti.
He took an old trope — time management — and refreshed it as energy management.
And he shared an idea that’s been banging around social media for awhile but that is new to me: Rest is not a reward for doing hard work. Rest is a requirement for doing hard work.
The question he raised: What if we budget creative energy the way we budget money? In order to spend energy, we need to have some energy banked. I like this metaphor.
Looking back, I realize that I burned a huge amount of creative energy preparing for the conference, getting to the conference, being at the conference absorbing information and meeting people and tackling micro-writing exercises. So I shouldn’t be surprised that it took me four days to feel something other than creative lethargy when I got home.
I’m glad to take a few minutes this morning to think about the value of rest, to respect it as a power source. Nia dance practice asks me to be aware of my physical energy, to dance my “today body.” Because of Persichetti’s presentation, I’m thinking the same way about my creative energy.
What’s in the creative well today, and how will I draw upon it?
Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now 