We are all familiar with the notion of the depressed writer, the scribe who is a tortured, tormented soul. Sadly enough, many of my favorite writers committed suicide -- Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert (yes, I've been on an Elizabeth Gilbert kick lately) is not OK with this notion that creativity and suffering are inherently linked or the assumption that artistry ultimately leads to anguish. She addresses this in a TEDTalk she gave a few years ago.

Perhaps some of this comes from the fact that everyone around us insinuates that our art is something we should fear -- that we should be afraid of failure, rejection, and writer's block and that even after we find success we should be afraid of never being able to top our big accomplishment.

But as Gilbert asks in her talk, "Is it rational, is it logical that anybody should be expected to be afraid of the work that they feel they were put on this earth to do?"

In her presentation Gilbert offers a new way to think about creativity and this is certainly a talk all writers and artists need to hear.



 

Image by Mike Licht via Flickr/Creative Commons

Last night I decided to marry my blog. 

I've already confessed to falling asleep spooning my iPad so it only makes sense that I take this relationship to the next level. 

So I'm marrying my blog. No, I'm not leaving the hubster. (Does this make me a polygamist?) Let me explain. 

Tuesday night, thanks to a post on BritniDanielle.com, I discovered an essay on writing by Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert and read this passage:

I believe that – if you are serious about a life of writing, or indeed about any creative form of expression – that you should take on this work like a holy calling. I became a writer the way other people become monks or nuns. I made a vow to writing, very young. I became Bride-of-Writing. I was writing’s most devotional handmaiden. I built my entire life around writing. I didn’t know how else to do this. I didn’t know anyone who had ever become a writer. I had no, as they say, connections. I had no clues. I just began.

Yes. This. I absolutely believe that writing is my calling, but I can't say I've treated it as such. I've blogged about the importance of writing consistently and seeing writing as a practice, but I've failed to practice what I preach. 

But perhaps if I take my calling as a writer as seriously as I take my calling as a wife to my husband and a daughter of my God I might finally accomplish my goals. 

Gilbert's metaphor resonated with me because I know that when I neglect spiritual practices such as prayer and study of Scripture my relationship with God suffers. God feels distant. Likewise, when I don't spend quality time with my husband our relationship suffers. He feels distant. And when I neglect the practice of writing my relationship with myself suffers. Writing isn't something I do, it's who I am. So when I'm don't write I don't feel like myself. My true self feels distant. 

Blogging is my primary way of practicing my writing so that's the reasoning behind my bloggy matrimony. 

But here's the thing: I'm going to screw up. I'm going to announce a new editorial calendar (that's coming tomorrow), I'm going to stick with it for a few weeks, and then something's going to come up and I'm going to fall off the wagon and skip a day or two or five. That's why the following passage from the Gilbert essay meant so much to me: 

As for discipline – it’s important, but sort of over-rated. The more important virtue for a writer, I believe, is self-forgiveness. Because your writing will always disappoint you. Your laziness will always disappoint you. You will make vows: “I’m going to write for an hour every day,” and then you won’t do it. You will think: “I suck, I’m such a failure. I’m washed-up.” Continuing to write after that heartache of disappointment doesn’t take only discipline, but also self-forgiveness (which comes from a place of kind and encouraging and motherly love).

Forgiveness is essential in any sacred relationship. I sin and God forgives me. I have a bitchy attitude for no good reason toward my sweet husband and he forgives me. I fail at publishing a new blog post every day and I must forgive myself. 

So here we go, writeous blog. It's me and you, together forever. Writing, you are my soul mate and what God has joined together let no man put asunder.