Sunday, 28 January 2018, 8:56PM
A deep house mix fills the entirety of Will’s small Hyundai Accent, reverberating off the windows as we rush down the highway home. The lights blur, yellow and red blending into orange streaks of light against the night sky. I am content, lost in the moment and nodding along to the beat. It is in these moments where it happens; where creativity works its magic.
Creativity is not born in the span of one or two weeks, instead, it is a process that is forever working. It thrives in those moments where our senses come alive, dancing its way up our fingertips, around our ears and eyes, and then straight through our hearts. It lives with us our entire lives. Influenced by the way we see, feel, and hear things, and is either a well-known friend or entirely illusive. Some live their whole lives without noticing the cuddly cat brushing up against their legs, and others make the time to stop, pick up the cat and sit creativity in their laps for a loving stroke or two.
So, it is not the process of creativity one should write about, but rather the process of acknowledging and caring for creativity.
The music thrums in my ears and swells in my throat as it reaches its drop. As we pass through the tunnel, the altering lights guide our way off the highway and to our exit: blue, yellow; blue, yellow; blue, yellow. Will drives with his hands at two-and-ten, firm, masterful, assuring the car remains flat on the road as we turn. I sit in the passenger seat, phone out in one hand, and creativity purring in my lap.
(originally written for ENGL 224, winter 2018)
Note from the author:
The above text was originally written for a lecture on the Creative Process taught at Concordia University. I took the course during the winter semester of 2018, and was required to fill out a weekly journal about my creative process. At the end of the semester, I transferred the texts over from my university student portal to a handwritten journal, before I could lose my work. They will now live on The Finn Press as a means of giving them a new life beyond the physical binding of a notebook. The texts are by no means perfect and predominantly written hours before the midnight deadline in a tired blur. Do enjoy!
