PERMISSION To Be As CREATIVE AF

a guide for anyone living with a critic

This license grants “your name here” Permission to be as CREATIVE AF, to Fail and/or Succeed Spectacularly; to Take all the RISKS you need or wish to take; to color outside the lines; to work creatively without considering length, word choice, grammar, punctuation, syntax, decorum, shame, or fear of other people's feelings (alive or dead), and to Know in your bones that Creativity is a Process you build upon by practicing act upon act of Permission that is now and forever granted to you for as long as you shall draw breath. 

You can make your own Creative License if you prefer. Some of my creative clients keep signs above their desks that say PERMISSION! Imagine Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof singing it!

If you have always imagined you are truly creative at heart and yet---and that "yet" stops you… 

or you argue with yourself and compare completed works of art or edited, published writing to your first or even third draft attempts…

or you write something fabulous but convince yourself it's a fluke…

or you're sure art, music or any kind of creativity is for other people…

or a voice inside reminds you of some embarrassing moment when Mrs. G in 3rd Grade laughed at your honest, vulnerable attempt to draw a horse… 

or a voice in your head clear as day barks, "who do you think you are," whenever you start planning a creative project… 

or you plan something and suddenly everyone else needs your immediate attention as if the entire universe would conspire to keep you from starting, revising or finishing a project…

then you and I have a lot in common! 

EXCEPT - and this is a big exception - I give myself permission to create, and include in that permission, permission to suck at creating several times a day. 

Make yourself a Creative License, and keep it where you can see it. 

In order to change the world that continues currently saying (and all through my life has said) loudly and clearly to me, "you are too much and not enough and no one cares what you have to say," I answer back, "my unique too-muchness added to my not enough-ness combined with no one caring gives me the freedom to do whatever (TF) I want!"

I'm not saying I run naked into fields full of creatively blissful wildflowers; I ambitiously plan projects that I hope will be useful in the world. The more useful I think they will be, the more likely I am to finish them.

My freedom to create did not happen overnight. And have been more times than I can count when I had it and then lost it! I had to relearn it all over again! These are the steps I take to cultivate permission:

Short, timed practice sprints (for the next 5 minutes -- set a timer -- I'll free-write using these randomly chosen 5 words, or this theme, or how I feel about... GO!)

Showing up (preferably in community) to create (regularly)

Sharing work in safe spaces

Befriending my Inner Critic and healing my Exiled Shame

Learning by practice to Allow myself to notice my internal impulses, to Allow whatever is rising up to make it to the page (or canvas, whatever your medium) through the building of self-trust

Practicing self-compassion because there is suffering involved. I've found that I often suffer because my work is not what or where I want it to be, and it's painful to fall short of my own expectations, but my compassion practice allows me to accept where I am with the work in the moment knowing I will improve it in time. And self-compassion allows me to hear constructive criticism necessary for any creative practice.

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Practices (or prompts) to jump-start creativity:

List 10 projects you would undertake if you were sure you could succeed

List 10 stories or images you'd love to share

List anything you'd regret not having imparted before you leave this earthly plane

List reasons you should do the project beyond yourself, who it could inspire or help, how it might ripple out into the world… Yes, imagine this in concrete images! How will this work save lives? Imagine people thanking you for having done it! Imagine your award speech…

Decide to kick “Show Don't Tell” to the curb for now. It's just one more rule to keep people like us from sharing our truths. Start giving yourself more PERMISSION to break all the damn rules.

Seriously, playfully and kindly take the work from your Muller, the one who would consider and consider and never do the deed. You know this part of you, your Inner Hamlet, who prevaricates at length, the one who's sure it'll all end in a bloodbath. Ask him to step aside for a while.

Describe the project you have in mind on paper with your ink or pixels on the screen (not your blood, please) and get the ideas down imperfectly. Sketch them out!

Tell it without regard to any rules. Begin without standards.

All creating is a matter of starting, revising, layering, learning, reconsidering, revising, structuring, restructuring, finagling, revising again and again, and refining. Doubt happens - it’s normal. Nothing starts perfect. Put an X across any page you're going to fill. Don't let any screen blink blankly at you, type nonsense onto it! So with your X or your nonsense, the thing is already ruined. Now you can create all over the ruined page/the ruined screen!

Trust and allow. Give yourself more permission. 

paintings by Scott Sherman at scottshermanstudio on instagram

PROMPT:

LAYERING — Whatever you are writing, perhaps the highest layer is what Diana Amsterdam called the Deep Driving Desire. A large, universal, abstraction like Love, Fame, or Security. The character doesn't need to be aware of this but you do. The next layer is what the character thinks they want - an actionable goal like “to keep my son safe” or “to get the promotion.” This can be attempted throughout in various actions. Beneath this layer exist the actions scene by scene that could help to make the known want happen — like “steal my son’s car keys” or “sabotage my colleague’s work.”  So that’s 3 layers of TRYING. Then there are all kinds of knowledge, backstory, reasons, motivations, feelings and whys and stakes which may or may not exist on the surface of the story/play/novel/whatever. Usually these things don’t come out unless they have to (by force). If or when they do, things change. But they are there anyway underneath. When I've written all this down (write these down), then I can write the scene. (Then write the scene.) Begin In Media Res — start in the middle of things! Do not worry about what the audience doesn’t know. Instead, if you must worry about something, worry that the audience isn’t interested! In order to grab your audience, they must care about your character. Not your character's backstory or any explanations - leave this out! To make them care, the character must have Deep Driving Desire the audience relates to, the audience can see them TRYING to achieve. Let the audience wonder why. Try it! 

Schedule & Announcements:

I’ll be teaching “Structure is Not a Dirty Word” my course on structure in playwriting at the Dramatists Guild Institute via Zoom this spring starting March 12th for 10 consecutive Tuesdays 6-9pm ET. More info HERE

I’m offering more Brave Group Coaching as a 6-week introductory course via Zoom starting Saturday, April 6th for 6 consecutive Saturdays 4-530pm ET. More info HERE

Andy Boyd’s Three Scenes in the Life of a Trotskyist is running at The Tank through March 17th. Get tickets HERE

Save April 6th, 12pm - 2pm ET via Zoom, for “Magical Dialogue,” my End of Play offering at the Dramatists Guild to help inspire you with new ways to create dialogue, events and builds.

BRAVE SPACE meets the week of 3/4 - 3/8/24:
Monday at 12pm ET
Tuesday at 12pm ET 
Friday at 12pm ET

For the week of 3/11 - 3/15/24:
Monday at 12pm ET
Tuesday at 12pm ET 
Thursday at 12pm ET
Friday at 12pm ET

For the week of 3/18 - 3/22/24
Monday at 12pm ET
Tuesday at 12pm ET
I'll be in Virginia at a Theatre Symposium for the rest of the week

for the week of 3/25 - 3/29/24
Monday at 12pm ET
Tuesday at 12pm ET
Thursday at 12pm ET
Friday at 12pm ET for Brave Sharing Salon

What helps you give yourself permission to be as creative AF?

Onward,

Emma