Ever give consideration to the fact that you, the writer, are as creative as the sculptor who takes a lump of clay and comes up with a piece of art. Or the painter who starts with a blank canvas, a brush and a few paints. He finishes with a piece of art.
Perhaps the writer is even more creative. We don't have a lump of clay or a clean canvas. All we begin with is our mind and what it contains. I've thought more than once about my mind being filled with boxes with certain types of information in each little box. Maybe our minds are compartmentalized in some respect.
The older we are, the more we have to draw from. As a young adult in our twenties, we drew from experiences as a small child, then a teen and finally someone in the beginning stages of being an adult. I'm a senior citizen so there are more little boxes in my mind--many, many of them. When I write, I open one or another to use whatever the experience I need to illustrate what I'm writing.
Creating a piece of writing really is a type of magic in some respects while, in others, it's just plain hard work. There have been times when I've gone back through old stories or essays and read them again. Sometimes, I wonder where in the world it came from. How did my mind to fingers produce this particular story?
It makes me realize that our writing process is both conscious and subconscious. The parts that usually surprise me are the ones that have been dredged up from my subconscious.
The magician pulls a rabbit out of his hat while you and I pull stories, essays and poetry from our minds. Start with nothing and come up with something. Our own kind of magic.
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