Creativity Slump

have just finished re-reading a good deal of Eric Maisel's Coaching the Artist Within. I would be lying if I did not say that it has re-inspired me as I have been re-inspired by the events of the Democratic National Convention and of McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate.

I have been experiencing a "creativity slump." I feel that my writing has suffered. I have neither had the desire to write, nor when I have been writing have I been as prolific as I used to be.

I wrote Regon Rising (adult novel) in six weeks. I wrote Julia: Turning 14 (teen novel) in three weeks. My energy was unbounded. I felt driven, or in Maisel's words "obsessed." "Positive obsessions are the fruit of our meaning making efforts. without them, life is dull, dreary, and meaningless." (p79) I have missed that energy and passion and have longed to have them back. I sense I am on the road there just because I chose to pick up and read Coaching the Artist Within.

As I sit here I wonder what made me decide to look at the book. Perhaps I am simply trying to attribute meaning where there is none. But, I had been feeling the absence of meaning in a subtle yet pervasive way for some time. The need for meaning was gaining momentum. As I read the first couple of chapters of Maisel's book, Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning came to mind. I have long been an admirer of Frankl's philosophy of the significance of meaning in one's life. And yet recently, I had "forgotten" it.

Now I find I am re-connecting with the pieces of myself which somehow seemed lost to me. And, I am doing it through my writing. It is not only gratifying, but I am grateful that despite the apparent meaninglessness (to me) of what I have been writing in my journal day after day for a while now, that I have continued to write. Writers need to keep writing.

Without writing in my life, there is not enough meaning. If that is true for you, I encourage you to read Eric Maisel's Coaching the Artist Within. I also encourage you to keep writing, no matter what. For more tips you can see Overcome Writer's Block Easily.