or, A Deeper Reflection on The Idea Paradox - We are all afraid of running out of ideas. The good news is, the creative well will never run dry. Here's why.
So as you know, our house relies on well water. (Not for drinking, because I’m picky.) This past year was very dry—hardly any snow, and not enough rain in the spring. So we’ve been supplementing our well with lake water, from the pump that supplies lake water to the camp next door. During the dry times, when we’ve got the water hose snaking across the front yard, I can wash “like a regular person”—laundry, dishes, bodies, whenever! Well and storage tank low? No worries! I just fill them up from the lake.
As I was reading your newsletter today, I recognized that that’s what happens for me, too. Is my creative well low? I fill it from the lake.
Just saying it this way helps me see that although I can write and revise at any time of the year (and have done it often), this spring/summer/autumn time, when it’s easy for me to be outdoors, is important to my creative self even if I don’t get words onto the page.
That's really interesting that winter can be such a drag on creativity! I'm not sure I have the same kinds of seasonal-related peaks and valleys -- at least when it comes to creativity. But I know that I create less if I have to, say, mow the lawn every four days in the early summer or snowblow the driveway every few hours.
Or, if the actual well runs dry and I need to run out for water before the truck comes to refill... lol
But my creative well often runs dry. Like, several times a week. Sometimes, it can be difficult to go back down to the office to do my "night writing" if I've been "day writing" too much. Sometimes, I'll get down there and literally feel the bottom of the well. Thankfully, a night of good sleep almost always cures that, so I'm back in the office the next morning and good to go.
This piece helped me understand something about myself Graham, and I really appreciate that. Let me explain: in the first year after I retired, I wrote a novel (hell, I serialized it here on Substack). But when I went back to revise it, I realized that I didn’t really want to work on it anymore. I had grown bored with it. I still think the core of it was a good idea, but to keep working on it would have required that I keep my head in the work world (it was largely a workplace novel, about surveillance within corporations), and I no longer wanted my head in the work world. I was, a year after retiring and a year after writing it out of my system, ready to move on.
Wow - yeah, that takes "losing the rush" to a whole different level!
I think it's inevitable that most writers lose interest in most books by the end. I've heard more than one author say that they were happy it was done or they couldn't look at it one more time or they were already on to the next project or something else. But that's after 2-5 years or whatever of writing it.
However, losing that rush can come long before that point, as it did for you. The three novels I actively worked on before abandonning were all good ideas (I think) as well. But I realized, for different reasons, that it just wasn't worth investing the time and effort into a project that I lost belief in for whatever reason. I'm still open to the very real possibility that my next novel may also go unpublished. But I do want to give it the best chance possible. I want to give the next agent and publisher few reasons to say no and every reason to say yes while writing something that is in my wheelhouse.
Another thought: we all write for different reasons. Publication doesn't have to be one of them. If you were writing it to get it out of your system and put your work past behind you, mission accomplished it sounds like! It sounds to me like your novel was a success in any case.
Glad the post was helpful, Tom! Thanks for sharing that!
So as you know, our house relies on well water. (Not for drinking, because I’m picky.) This past year was very dry—hardly any snow, and not enough rain in the spring. So we’ve been supplementing our well with lake water, from the pump that supplies lake water to the camp next door. During the dry times, when we’ve got the water hose snaking across the front yard, I can wash “like a regular person”—laundry, dishes, bodies, whenever! Well and storage tank low? No worries! I just fill them up from the lake.
As I was reading your newsletter today, I recognized that that’s what happens for me, too. Is my creative well low? I fill it from the lake.
Just saying it this way helps me see that although I can write and revise at any time of the year (and have done it often), this spring/summer/autumn time, when it’s easy for me to be outdoors, is important to my creative self even if I don’t get words onto the page.
A living metaphor. Thanks!
That's really interesting that winter can be such a drag on creativity! I'm not sure I have the same kinds of seasonal-related peaks and valleys -- at least when it comes to creativity. But I know that I create less if I have to, say, mow the lawn every four days in the early summer or snowblow the driveway every few hours.
Or, if the actual well runs dry and I need to run out for water before the truck comes to refill... lol
But my creative well often runs dry. Like, several times a week. Sometimes, it can be difficult to go back down to the office to do my "night writing" if I've been "day writing" too much. Sometimes, I'll get down there and literally feel the bottom of the well. Thankfully, a night of good sleep almost always cures that, so I'm back in the office the next morning and good to go.
Thanks for the insights, Marion!
This piece helped me understand something about myself Graham, and I really appreciate that. Let me explain: in the first year after I retired, I wrote a novel (hell, I serialized it here on Substack). But when I went back to revise it, I realized that I didn’t really want to work on it anymore. I had grown bored with it. I still think the core of it was a good idea, but to keep working on it would have required that I keep my head in the work world (it was largely a workplace novel, about surveillance within corporations), and I no longer wanted my head in the work world. I was, a year after retiring and a year after writing it out of my system, ready to move on.
Wow - yeah, that takes "losing the rush" to a whole different level!
I think it's inevitable that most writers lose interest in most books by the end. I've heard more than one author say that they were happy it was done or they couldn't look at it one more time or they were already on to the next project or something else. But that's after 2-5 years or whatever of writing it.
However, losing that rush can come long before that point, as it did for you. The three novels I actively worked on before abandonning were all good ideas (I think) as well. But I realized, for different reasons, that it just wasn't worth investing the time and effort into a project that I lost belief in for whatever reason. I'm still open to the very real possibility that my next novel may also go unpublished. But I do want to give it the best chance possible. I want to give the next agent and publisher few reasons to say no and every reason to say yes while writing something that is in my wheelhouse.
Another thought: we all write for different reasons. Publication doesn't have to be one of them. If you were writing it to get it out of your system and put your work past behind you, mission accomplished it sounds like! It sounds to me like your novel was a success in any case.
Glad the post was helpful, Tom! Thanks for sharing that!