Even if you haven’t read Eat, Pray, Love
So when I heard the well-known author and inspiring orator was coming to Sydney I jumped at the chance to see her. Standing on stage yesterday at the Sydney Opera House, as part of the All About Women festival, Liz started her talk with a disclaimer. I apologise, she said, to be speaking to you bare foot today (she’d had a fight with a couch) and warn you that my talk will be littered with profanities. But if there is anywhere, she said, in the world where she thinks she might be able to get away with that, this would be it!
And so she began.
Liz is an incredible speaker – witty, anecdotal, punchy – so forgive me for summarising now what was an incredible talk. However, I wanted to share some of her points on creativity that I think will resonate with bloggers and writers.
On Courage
Liz cites a poet named Jack Gilbert as one of her creative inspirations and this was a question he posed a promising student.
On Fear
Liz touched on the reasons why women in particular may be afraid to release their creative work:
Fear that we’re not good enough
That everyone is better/has already done it
Not having the right workspace, money, time, education
Afraid of criticism, afraid of rejection, afraid of what our family will think, afraid of success
Fear that we’re too fat
Fear we’ll be ignored. Fear of being a one hit wonder, fear of being a none hit wonder.
Sound familiar?
Fear is terribly boring, Liz says, because it’s the same thing everyday. But we need to learn how to live with fear. A life without fear would be a short and dangerous one. We need to accept that fear will always be related to creativity and need to learn to live with that. To address it, accept it, and accommodate it. Let fear have its voice but don’t give it a vote.
On Entitlement
We need to be comfortable with entitlement. The “arrogance of belonging” is necessary for a creative life. We are entitled to express and exhibit our work.
We belong to a species of artists. (Man was making decorative arts before inventing agriculture!) You don’t permission, there’s an inherited right in us all to create.
On Perfectionism
If you want to live a creative life you need to take on your own perfectionism. The ideal artist is a devoted half-ass. “Done is better than good.”
“A good enough novel written this year is better than a perfect novel written never.”
Give a creative mind something to do. Take a vacation from yourself.
Your work is not your baby, don’t make it more precious than it needs to be. You need to be able to release it, not protect it. Let your work nurture you.
Please don’t try and help people with your work – it makes it awkward for them. Do what you love and eventually it turns to help.
Quick Fire Questions
The audience had a chance to ask Liz some personal questions and these were my favourite sound bites.
Is social media good or bad for humans? It is humans, it’s just us.
On Oprah – “She smokes what she’s selling.”
On taking your work too seriously – “It’s like having sex with someone who respects you too much. Spank your work instead!”
“I write sequentially or else the story makes you its bitch!”
Does any of this advice resonate with you as a blogger?
This is great! Thank you for posting, especially the TED Talks. I teach creative writing and will integrate these videos into some of my classes 🙂
http://www.adventurousappetite.com
It’s so refreshing to hear a successful writer admit to their fears and flaws. I find Liz’s honesty refreshing and completely inspiring. Hope your class enjoy them 🙂
Needed to read this today, thanks for sharing!
Hi Jayne,
I was fortunate enough to meet Liz Gilbert after attending ‘a conversation with Liz Gilbert on the South Bank. When you speak to her, you find you feel as if you are part of an inclusive group- treated as an equal. I don’t always agree with what she says but she is incredibly interesting and if you haven’t read A Signature of All Things. Do so – As a Writer/Blogger, a person can learn so much from her work. She is incredibly talented.
Janice
It’s next on my list 🙂
I can identify with the fear for sure! I’ve been considering starting my blog for a while but I feel like it’s all been said. Or, do people really want to hear what I have to say? I’m over thinking it I suppose.
I love how candid she is about everything!
She’s very candid but I also love how straight forward her approach is. She would say that if everyone didn’t write or start a creative project for fear of it being done before we would be deprived of some of the world’s best work. Good luck!
I really despised Eat, Pray, Love, but now that I’m trying to write a novel myself I admire any writer who’s achieved what I’m aiming for, whether I like their work or not. I love the quote about a good enough novel being better than an imaginary perfect one. It’s so true!
Funnily enough there were a few writers in the audience who hadn’t been fans of Eat, Pray, Love but loved Liz’s approach to just doing the task at hand (if that is what you want to do.) You might like her TED talks too for some writerly inspiration 🙂
A little jealous that you got to go (I hate when people finally get to Sydney and I can’t go) but thank you for sharing, its almost like I was able to go
The advice absolutely applies. I can so often get stuck trying to get it right (I think because I fear the judgement of stuffing up) and it can mean things don’t happen at all.
I think she’ll be back next year so hopefully you can see her for yourself. I found her words so encouraging too.