After serious reflection – and reading a snipped in Chapter 8 about using laundry as an excuse not to do something creative just as I was fishing in my head for such an excuse – it occurred to me that trying to “power through” the creative exercises in Artist’s Way would do exactly what they were trying to undo. I would be using them as my excuse for not doing my work, and well, that would get me nowhere. Just like giving myself the excuse that “I’m still unpacking” is also not valid for why I don’t write as much as I should. The brain can only process so much change at once – it’s why people who are given electroshock pretty much just lose memories and there’s no guarantee they’ll lose the right memories.
So, that said, here’s my exercise from chapter 8 thus far:
My dream: to become a playwright.
My true north: seeing the play produced.
I would finish a script for Fringe Festival (one I’ve had in my head for about four years now) and see it performed. In a perfect world, in 5 years I’d like to have completed the play. In the world I live in, today I can plot out the play and determine the ending. In a year I can have three acts written. In this month, I can write the conclusion and begin writing a scene or half a scene a day.
Color Exercise:
I am gold, reflective yet powerful, extroversion buried deep in the earth. I am the rays of the sun, illuminating, nurturing, casting shadow. I am rare. I am valuable. I am flexible, yet enduring.