It's The Little Things

Photo by Diego PH on Unsplash

A couple of weeks ago on here, I was talking about giving up trying so hard on my second book, and the realisation that my ‘job’ as a writer is to create the conditions for great ideas to happen. The challenge in that moment was that those conditions involved space (in my head) and time (I didn’t have). Since then, a bad dose of Shingles means I’m at home and resting for the next few days, with no plans at all, and doesn’t the universe have a funny way of giving you exactly what you need?! I would have loved the time and space without the awful rash, fatigue and aches, but I will take what I can get.

What this enforced rest has done, is remind me of some of the ‘little things’ that go into creating the conditions where great ideas can happen. These are all things that don’t actually take up huge amounts of time BUT that I’ve got out of the habit of doing lately - choosing instead to scroll on my phone - more on this in a future Substack, as it requires a whole piece on it’s own. These ‘little things’ are the things which (for me) when I am doing them regularly (if not every day) make my creative brain come alive, and create space for magic. In the few days I’ve been at home this last week, I’ve recommitted to doing them, and (pause for gasps of surprise) while my body has yet to catch up, my brain is starting to feel better, and I’m starting to feel excited about writing again, much to my relief.

So, what are my ‘little things?’

1) Morning Pages

When I first started writing The List of Suspicious Things I also did The Artist’s Way, and found it life-changing. For anyone reading who has never heard of this incredible book, its essentially a course-in-a-book designed to remove any and all blocks to creativity. It is unapologetically ‘woo-woo’ which is why it took me a long time to get to it (being sceptical of all things ‘woo-woo’) but as Julia encourages in the opening, I carried on and did it anyway, despite my scepticism, and became a full convert, as it transformed my perspective on life, let alone art. Morning pages is the daily practice of writing three pages (longhand, not typed) first thing after waking/before your day starts. It is a way of clearing the mind/capturing what is going on in your head before the rest of you wakes up, including your inner censor. I find it sets my day up beautifully.

2) Meditation

This is something it has taken me a loooonnnng time to get into the discipline of (and that discipline has lapsed recently) but that is of such benefit to every area of my life. The game-changer for me was the discovery of the Chopra app, which has a daily 10–15-minute guided meditation. It gives me perspective, food for thought, and a welcome break from my racing head every day

3) Creative Input

For me this comes mainly in the form of podcasts or audiobooks focused on creativity or writing. My current favourite is Rick Rubin’s the Creative Act, which is full of easily accessible wisdom (and funnily enough today I listened to him talking about habits being the cornerstone of creativity, which is much the same as I am exploring here).

4) Getting Outside

I am lucky enough to live in rural Somerset, which makes the prospect of being outside more attractive than not, but I do still sometimes have to remind myself to go out (particularly when I am super-busy or anxious) and just spend time in nature. If nothing else it provides perspective, but I also had the idea for The List of Suspicious Things while out on a walk in the countryside, and I always do my best problem-solving by putting one foot in front of the other.  

5) Writing something (anything?!)

One of the reasons I started this Substack was to get myself back into the habit of writing something every week. If only a handful of people read it, that’s completely OK with me. It’s more about the act of writing, and the discipline of planning, editing and publishing it. I was listening to the podcast ‘Magic Lessons’ with Elizabeth Gilbert the other day and an episode with Neil Gaiman where he says ‘what you can always do is open the door and set the table for art to come in. You can’t guarantee it will come in, but you can invite it.’ And I like to think that this is my act of opening the door and setting the table.

I’d love to hear what your ‘little things’ are. And given I’ve now done mine for the day I’m back to resting, which today is taking the form of a couple (well, OK, maybe three or four) of episodes of Law and Order SVU on Netflix. Have a lovely week.