Getting into the Groove

Maybe you’ve found the groove, know what you want to write, have a story to tell. But, still, you’re not yet in the groove, not writing regularly, not consistently sitting down to the computer, tablet, notebook, and getting it down.

Maya Angelou claims that “there is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” I think she means that a burning story wants out, but she could also be recognizing the agony of not writing. The dread of the question, “What are you working on?” The sobering anguish of having something to say, but knowing it’s not getting said. 

As long as it’s a duty, something you tell yourself you should do, it probably won’t get done. On the other hand, few of us have trouble going after what we really want—a walk in the sand, a strong cappuccino, a sail on the bay, for (personal) example. It seems that the quality of our ambition is a function of desire over duty. 

Annie Dillard says 

Writing a book is like rearing children—willpower has very little to do with it. If you have a little baby crying in the middle of the night, and if you depend only on willpower to get you out of bed to feed the baby, that baby will starve. You do it out of love. Willpower is a weak idea; love is strong. You don’t have to scourge yourself with a cat-o’-nine-tails to go to the baby. That’s the same way you go to your desk. There’s nothing freakish about it. Caring passionately about something isn’t against nature, and it isn’t against human nature.  It’s what we’re here to do.

On Saturday I attended a lecture by the Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Sebastian Smee who was a personal friend of the late British artist Lucian Freud. Smee quoted Freud as saying that one's devotion to art requires "a discipline of self-indulgence." How well put. Doing "what we're here to do," going to our desks with care and passion, honors our belief in our better selves. 

Losing oneself in art-making can feel organic, its allure as essential as breathing.  Like an addiction, it can consume hours of mental energy. Like complete absorption in a good book, immersion in the creative world captivates the mind, grasping it firmly while shutting the door against all else. It can be more compelling than any lover. So, perform your purpose. Go after what you want, straight into the groove; go with love and devotion.