I watched a great TED talk a couple of weeks ago. It was Shonda Rhimes talking about the year she decided to say yes to everything. Now, most people decide they need to say no to more things, that they say yes to far too many, but Shonda decided that as a general writer type introvert she would say yes to more things. Public speaking for one!
For anyone who doesn’t know who Shonda Rhimes is, she is the powerhouse writer behind Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How to get Away with Murder. (I don’t just watch crime shows, I love American dramas.)
What I enjoyed about this talk is that she describes how hard she works (extremely!) and that at one point she felt she’d lost her – she calls it, her hum – and she’d lost it, but by saying yes to certain requests she found a way to get that hum back and find the love and joy in her writing again.
Watch for yourself, see how much work she does and let me know, do you think it makes sense? If you don’t take care of yourself then you’ll burn out. How do you look after your creativity?
can’t say I noticed a lack of hum… just love everything she writes!
I think with anything if you go and go and go all the time, you will burn out.
I like the idea of being open to new things to keep creativity going. But it is really hard to say ‘yes’ to everything and still keep that ‘hum.’ Thanks for sharing, Rebecca.
Never heard of her and now she’s inspired me. Thanks, Rebecca.
Ooo, great talk. TED talks are awesome, always. But yes, new things can always get my creative juice going – this NaNo what really helped me finish was project shifts after I hit a word count.
I’m a great believer in Julia Cameron’s filling the well. I’m also a great believer in more carrot than stick. What does hard work actually mean in the realm of creativity? I can be making myself a cup of tea or doing the ironing and something will come in to help with my plot. Is that ‘hard work’. When I get into the frame of mind that says work harder etc …it’s usually a sign I need to go for a walk!