Author Liwen Ho

What to Do When Your Creative Juices Run Dry

It’s been wet, wet, wet here on the west coast! I’m talking about non-stop rain the wholeΒ day yesterday, from morning till noon till night. School closures all around the Bay Area, which is something I have never witnessed (or ever had the pleasure of partaking in when I was a kid!). Lots of big puddles that the munchkins had a blast jumping and sloshing around in yesterday when we ventured out for lunch. And about 2-5 inches of total rainfall, depending on where you live. It was not exactly the #stormageddon or #stormpocalypse that the weather channelsΒ had been predicting, but there was a whole lotta water pouring down from the skies.

Yes, we Californians have a sense of humor.
Yes, we Californians have a sense of humor.

Now, wouldn’t it be great if our creative juices could flow justΒ as freely and heavilyΒ asΒ rain? That ideas – and not just ideas, but brilliant ideas – would pop into our heads as soon as we picked up a paintbrush, placed our fingers on an instrument, sat down in front of a keyboard, took a look into the refrigerator or peered into a microscope? Wouldn’t it be greatΒ ifΒ those brilliant ideas would then turn into a beautifulΒ painting, a moving song, a breathtaking story, a scrumptious meal or a coolΒ scientific discovery?

It wouldn’t be great, it would be awesome.

Like water, creative juices have a tendency to ebb and flow. Sometimes creativity comes like a downpour, other times like a trickle. Every once in a while, however, our creative juicesΒ just run dry. I’m talking about cracked, sun-scorched, no-liquid-in-sight kind of dry. Something like this picture here:

Image courtesy of numanzaa/freedigitalphotos.net
Image courtesy of numanzaa/freedigitalphotos.net

When I saw this image, the first thing that popped into my head was, Was that tree photoshopped in? How couldΒ any living thing grow out of and survive in such dry earth?

Thanks to the power of Google, I found out the impossible can be possible. According to this articleΒ from USA Today, plants that liveΒ in the Sahara (the world’s largest hot desert) do so thanks to their extensive root systems. Their roots have the ability toΒ suck water up from deep under the ground, toΒ as far asΒ 150 feet below the dry surface. Talk about ingenuity! (God thinks of everything. :D)

This got me thinking that plants in the Sahara know a thing or two about thriving. SinceΒ water won’t come to them, they find a way to get to the water.

So how does this apply to us as people? Well, when our creative juices run dry, instead of waiting for inspiration to strike us, we need to go out and search forΒ it.

The best sources of inspiration that I’ve found areΒ other people. People who are creative in the areas that you excel in and enjoy, as well as people who are creatively different from you. Because when it all comes down to it, creativity comes from a needΒ to explore and invent. If you look around, you’ll find countless people in your life who have that same need. Allow their work and enthusiasm to tug at your heart, tickle your creative bone and moveΒ you to tears or laughter, so you want to start dreamingΒ again.

Although it’s been raining in California, I’ve been experiencing a creative drought (aka. writer’s block). This dry spell had me feelingΒ constipatedΒ (artistically speaking!) and shriveled up like a prune for days. But thanks to a good conversation with a creative friend and some episodes of The Voice, I got inspired again to write. And I’m happy to announce I’m working on my second novella and am finally making good progress on it. God willing, I’ll be publishing it during the spring ofΒ 2015.

Here’s one song that tugged at myΒ creative heartstrings recently. I love the different take that Damien (one of TheΒ Voice contestants) puts onΒ Paula Cole’s song, “I Don’t Want to Wait”. (Any fellow Dawson’s Creek fans out there? :P)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUKStodSB5w

Who inspires you in your creative quests? Do share, so we can be inspired together!

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Amy

I get inspiration from others too! I love to read my favorite bloggers and remember how fun it is to hear someone REAL and entertaining. (I love to laugh!) I am an artist, so seeing really, really good art is simultaneously inspiring and intimidating…but I try to use it to motivate me instead of discourage me! Congrats on a novella #2! You are awesome! πŸ™‚

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