On creativity

If you let it out — if you let it come into the world — then you can assess its worth. Then you can decide if the idea first-entered in the form it wants to be.

Let the poem come. Let the photograph be made. Let the drawing take form. Let the words be spoken. Let the melody be heard.

What can happen, though, is that we scrub the idea before it has a chance to live. We prejudge the work as being wanting, and we keep ourselves from even starting.

Thing is, a beautiful screenplay may begin as a clumsy poem. A transformative sculpture might have its start as a hasty watercolor. A new creative endeavor may be born of a simple blog post.

When we allow the ideas to come forth, we have the opportunity to say, “Yes, this is just right,” or “No, this needs to take another form.”

But when we discount ideas before they can breathe — or worse yet, convince ourselves that we are void of good ideas — we forget that creativity is not a product. Creativity is a process. It’s a practice. It’s a way of dancing with possibility. And its first step into the world is never like its last.