Confession: I’m struggling…
because Radical Creativity is its own beast in the forest
If you are a first-time reader or listener, these posts make the most sense when you start here.
Listen to this audio version of Confession: I’m struggling… or read below.
Between my heartfelt desire to bring you, my Loyal-Committed Reader, something fresh and worthy of your time each week (I mean, honestly, that you are here at all continues to amaze and thrill me)…
… while also honoring this practice called Radical Creativity (rising from the creative essence of WindyWild, my Inner Teen), I’m at a crossroads between these two, competing mandates.
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In some respects, in Substack, I have no business at all working on a book (oh, dear, if this was not already clear, please forgive me) for three reasons: two structural, and one creative-behavioral.
1. Structural: Substack is built on the idea of an ongoing connection with like-minded, curious thinkers who resonate with a particular subject written by a particular personality. It’s the “ongoing” part I’m struggling with.
2. Structural: Substack Posts are designed for a single expedition that begins and ends, most often, in one post. Sometimes that single expedition might extend to a Part 2 and a Part 3 post.
But because my original premise is based on the model of a book, each post of mine is only a waypoint helping us navigate one, loooong expedition. And, at some point, these waypoints will become an endpoint.
The reality of this endpoint is a constant drip, drip, drip behind every post I write because I don’t intend for the endpoint of our Inner Teen Expedition to be the end of this Substack… TBD!
I'm still musing over potential, cheeky landscapes for A Slice of Orange, A Pinch of Sky.
3. Creative-Behavioral: One of the main tenets of Radical Creativity is honoring what I call Creative Timing.
Sometimes, creative behavior works best under constraints of: time, subject matter, materials, environment, etc. The constraint compels your creativity to adapt, and in the pressurized process of adaptation the resulting alchemy opens into surprising landscapes that offer more than you could have anticipated.
Other times, creative behavior needs unspecified timing to muddle through, to let the right and left hemispheres of our brain sift, shift, and sort the bits and pieces we’re gathering, a bit like this section from a longer poem:
For Certain, Nothing
Feverish from loss, our personalities
Pour porcelain chips from hand to hand
Sifting, sorting…trying to reassemble what remains
Or we slump and contemplate the jungled heap
Certain no sense will willingly appear
But swing to the left of a new moon, spin ‘round three times, then spit
And from the vanishing Old World inchoate forms will rise
ghosts of lace gracing
the folded velvet of our longingAnd this is exactly where I find myself, 23 Substack posts in, muddling through to “reassemble what remains.”
This is all a bit of a round-about to ask you, Dear Reader… please indulge me while I take some much needed, unconstrained time—even if it doesn’t fit our current Substack format.
I may post each week; I may not. I may post every other week, then a string of weeklies, then nothing for a week or two.
Right now, I need to allow posting to flow in time with the first tier of Radical Creativity’s Framework of Intentions:
Tier 1 - Take 100% responsibility for all aspects of your creativity
What’s Next?
For me, in this landscape, owning 100% responsibility means taking the time to deeply ponder, and shape, the full experience I want to offer you in the next series of posts.
And I’m wondering… what changes in your Creative Life when Radical Creativity graces the folded velvet of your longing?
Your support inspires me to reach higher, breathe easier. Your free subscription is splendid. A Paid Subscription helps support my independent writing so I can offer you more!
Meanwhile, please …
Add a comment to this post because I really, really need to know what’s intriguing you, if there’s anything else you want to know/hear, or if you have a question or a thought. Controversy welcomed!
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3. Discover why Inspiration changed from a what to a Who.
Come Meet The Goddess of Inspiration and expand your creativity: an original, guided meditation for any time you hit a roadblock or doubts are taking over.
P.S. To continue this series, scroll down and hit “next.”
To reacquaint yourself with My Premise / My Promise, click here.
