CHASING CREATIVITY

by Deborah Elliott-Upton

Recently another writer shared with me that he heard an author announce since she became a writer, she no longer gardened, although she loved working with the earth and seeing things grow. She’d also given up quilting and determined she would sew no more — all so she could become a better writer.

What?

Who would tell an accountant he should never go fishing again if he wanted to be better with spreadsheets? A doctor should give up his Wednesday golf games if he intended on being a better surgeon? Or maybe a prosecutor should forget playing tennis even when the game released his pent-up anger when justice didn’t seem served?

Perhaps the author meant you only had to sacrifice hobbies if your occupation was more in the creative vein? Someone tell Paul Newman he shouldn’t have been auto racing or figuring out spaghetti sauce recipes if he meant to win an Oscar. Hmm, that’s right: he did pursue his multiple talents and interests and managed to win one of those statues. So it can’t mean creative work.

At the Ogallala (Pronounced Oh-gah-la-la)1 Quilter’s Society Annual Festival and Quilt Show in Dimmitt, Texas, I met a remarkable artist in quilter, Marilyn Ford of Tucumcari, New Mexico.

Beside her wall quilt, Marilyn posted the following2:

Chasing Creativity

   Sometimes the creative juices stop. During a “Why can’t I get going?” time, I saw a SARK book by Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy on creativity. An interesting concept was to be creative for three minutes. The thought of grabbing idea stars got me moving and starting this project.
   Julia Child’s take about her life in France offered the wonderful word “wowser.” Author of “Slaughterhouse Five” and motorcyclist Kurt Vonnegut’s writings offered, “We’re on earth to fart around and don’t let anybody tell you different.” Why be serious?
   The whole sky including the star catcher is covered with sparkly navy net. Without it the woman looks as if she’s about to tumble down on to the land.

I adore Ms. Ford’s work. One wall quilt after another in her showing provided inspiration for me to look beyond the boundaries that box us in – to search for the “wowsers” of life. In speaking with her I learned, although she surely enjoys delving into the creative side of quilting, her art is not just a hobby. She’s sold quilts and is ready to part with more of her collection. I suggested she contact a gallery and mentioned where I’d seen art showcased in my hometown.

“Not everyone thinks quilts are art,” she said.

“Not everyone recognizes art at first,” I replied.

Ms. Ford has several talents. A watercolorist, she has also been a school teacher – mainly of the fifth grade. She told me art was taught every Friday and no one was ever absent that day. “We did some good stuff,” she said.

Marilyn Ford has also been a newspaper reporter. I don’t believe her writing suffered because of her love of art, nor did her art suffer due to her way of making a living. She lived on a boat for a year and wrote a book. The book is not yet published, but most of us have a manuscript or two waiting. Never say never is my creed.

The word work is usually reserved to mean something we toil over to bring in enough money to support us and our family. I remember telling my children to find a job they’d do for free and they’d never be sorry. Lots of writers have completed books, essays, poems and short stories for the sheer love of doing it. It’s just nicer when someone pays you.

Ms. Ford’s quilts were her own design and would be difficult for anyone to completely copy no matter how much they may desire to do so. It’s like finding a writer we admire – we may attempt to copy his style, but bits of the author’s voice will make it merely an imitation. Grab your own idea stars and create your own masterpieces instead.

“I found out I don’t have to follow a pattern,” Marilyn told me. “And I never have after that. It was more fun and challenging.”

Give up my pastimes in order to be a better writer? I don’t agree with that idea. While I’m sewing or knitting or painting or gardening or reading, my mind forgets worries about deadlines or plot points and instead plays with ideas floating around waiting to be plucked at just the right time. Good writers look beyond the boundaries, to grab the idea stars others can’t yet see. I’m looking for the wowsers life has to offer. I think it makes me a better writer.

1. The Ogallala Aquifer is the name of a vast underground river that flows in this area providing necessary water to sustain life in a land where the earth appears parched on the surface. [↩]
2. Used with her permission to appear in this article. [↩]