Hello friends! Sagan here. Welcome back to Indie Author Weekly, where I share my behind-the-scenes journey of writing and self-publishing books.
If you’re new to this podcast, I am a productivity strategist for multi-passionate creatives at SaganMorrow.com: I help people manage their time and energy effectively, through customized, actionable strategies that work for your unique life and business. When I’m not teaching about productivity to solopreneurs, I spend my time writing romantic comedies, and occasionally, business books. And that is what this podcast is all about: the adventures of the author life.
Now let’s get into this episode of the Indie Author Weekly podcast. In this episode, I want to share the truth about creativity that every writer needs to keep in mind.
And that is this: Creativity is not a finite resource.
What I have seen time and again in my own business and with the people I’ve worked with—as writers, as business owners, as freelancers, and so on—is that we all have so much fear around the loss of creativity.
And I get it. When you have a great idea for a character or a story, sometimes you can actually be so *into* the idea that it scares you too much to continue. That’s pretty magical—and yet, you’re also afraid that you’ll never come up with as good an idea as this one. Right?
But the thing is, your creativity is a bottomless well. You have so much creativity and ideas inside of you, and they will continue to produce again and again in the future.
This is about trusting yourself. And it’s also about not being so arrogant to think that this one idea you have right now is the absolute best you’ll ever have. We are all, always, going to improve! There’s no limit. This one idea that you have at the moment isn’t the be-all end-all. It’s just the perfect thing for right now. And in the future, you will continue to have more and more ideas.
What this means is that you should NOT save your “good” ideas for when you’re a better writer. Because what even is a “better” writer? At what point are you going to decide that you’re “good enough” to finally use your favourite character or story idea?
It’s all arbitrary. There is no structure defining when you have reached your peak. And the best part about it is, that means that you never need to worry about hitting your peak.
I know that this can be hard. I’ve had my share of dealing with this problem, too! Every time I write a book, I have a moment of anxiety that this is going to be the best book I’ll ever write, and I won’t be able to top it.
That’s ridiculous. How can this book possibly be the best, when next time, you’ll have that much more writing experience and fresh ideas? Again, that’s just arrogance and your ego getting in the way. Don’t let it. Because “using up” your best creative ideas right now won’t diminish your creativity or storytelling ability… but you know what? Arrogance and your ego will diminish your creativity and storytelling ability. So don’t let those things get in the way of you having fun with your writing projects and sharing those stories from your heart with all your awesome ideas this time around, while you’re at your current writing ability.
Creativity is not a finite resource. You will have more ideas, better ideas, in the future. And you will be a better writer and storyteller by using your current awesome ideas now, rather than holding onto that arbitrary moment in the future.
I feel very strongly about this. If you’ve been listening to this Indie Author Weekly podcast or if you’ve been following me on social media for any length of time, then you already know that I’m a huge proponent of the concept that there’s enough to go around! I am multipassionate in my work, and I am polyamorous in my personal life. There is always more inspiration and creativity and joy and all of those things to be had.
The more that you make the most of what you have in this particular moment—including whatever awesome idea is churning in your head that you’re holding onto or “saving” for a future book—the happier and more enjoyment you’ll get from the process, and the more freedom you’ll have to grow into your best writer self.
Don’t wait for later to make great use of your beautiful ideas. Trust that you will come up with better ideas in the future, and honour the magical ideas you have right now, the ones that make your heart happy, by putting those ideas to paper—today.
Now, I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Connect with me on Twitter and Instagram, @Saganlives, to chat about it! And you can send me a message on either of those platforms if you have requests for future episode topics, too. The more you tell me what you’d like to see more of on this podcast, the better that I can accommodate that. You can also submit your questions or topic ideas anonymously at SaganMorrow.com/question.
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By the way, you can access complete word-for-word transcripts of this episode and all past episodes, plus sample chapters of my romantic comedies and a few other bonuses and goodies, on the “secret” version of this podcast. Get access to all of that at SaganMorrow.com/secretpodcast.
Thanks so much for tuning in to the Indie Author Weekly podcast, and I will see you in the next episode.