I remember someone telling me somewhere, at some point, that creativity is when you take two or more ideas and combine them into one. But combine is maybe too clumsy a word, and implies more agency than actually is present. For me what happens is over time the boundaries between the different ideas decay, dissolve. They don’t just combine; they become no longer distinguishable. They combine the way sun and rain combine into a tree.
By the time I even remember this definition of creativity it’s already happened, the separate ideas have already coalesced. It happened early this week, when I found that some little stories I’d been sketching were all part of one big story, and suddenly there was enough force behind the new idea to make me excited to keep going. (Yes!)
But first: I have a book to finish.
I received manuscript notes from my editors on Tuesday. (Have I told you yet that I have editors, friend? :) The feedback is more granular now; the loops getting tighter. The writing decisions are smaller in scope but greater in number, and have to be decided more quickly too; I suppose it balances out. The next deadline is in three weeks, and I must not dawdle.
Thanks for the replies to last week’s letter. I’ve read them all, even if I haven’t responded. “Letting go” seemed to be a common theme, and I’ll be practicing it a lot in the days ahead.