Reconnecting to my creativity -- by Jane Kelley

I'm fortunate to live near Lake Michigan. I think of it as mine, but it isn't. It's old. Over a billion years ago, two tectonic plates were pulled apart and formed the Mid-Continental Great Rift. Fifteen thousand years ago, a receding glacier melted in that rift and formed the Great Lakes. It's vast. It contains 1180 cubic miles of fresh water. It's dangerous. Some estimate that over 10,000 ships have sunk in it, killing more than 30,000 people.

The shore near my house is the place of many important moments in my life (including my wedding). Even though I never write specifically about the lake, my creativity is connected to it. I love to stand on the shore, feel the power of the wind and the waves, or be soothed by the gentle lapping of water on the beach. It inspires me.

Sometimes we forget to nurture our creativity. This is what it feels like to be frozen.

 Ice monsters can form too.

 

 

So what can we do to reconnect to our creativity?

Read -- what we are writing, what others are writing, our favorite books, and don't forget to read the nice thing someone wrote to you once (especially if it was from your loved one).

Write -- in a journal, a letter to a friend, a letter to yourself, a letter to your characters, a new page even if it's the worst thing anyone has ever written. You can't make it better until it exists. 

Walk -- anywhere outside. Windy exercise can transform the most stagnant mood. In the Netherlands, the  practice is called “uitwaaien.” It literally means "outblowing.”

Of course sometimes more drastic measures are needed. That's when I visit the edge of Lake Michigan. (You can go to whatever place feels magic to you. )

Light a fire. Let the flames consume the word "doubt."

Summon the moon. It will make a path upon the water.

Eventually, I'm able to plunge in again –– even on November 7th.

Jane Kelley is the author of many middle grade novels including Nature Girl, which tells the story of how a girl finds herself by getting lost in the woods. She also enjoys plunging into cold water.