Creativity's Ups and Downs...

Well what a week! I have had 'one of those' where everything went 'wrong.' My modem stopped working, the phone was out of order, my mobile broke and I had letters upon letters from the bank, debt collection agencies and the lovely gas board demanding money I didn't have. Argh!!!
So what to do? I took a BIG and DEEP breath, wrote some letters and looked out of my window at the chaos of the world outside. I used a littel trick a friend of mine taught me and asked myself: 'what is good about this situation?' A weird question when you feel so shit! But I came up with: 'Well the panic is forcing me to actually communicate with people I owe money to, The lack of technology cuts down on my many distractions, The in-my-face suffering in the world makes me make changes so I can actually do something about it and, of course, the time I now have on my hands enables me to write, paint and cry. I like a good cry sometimes.
The day after this revelation the phone worked and didn't stop ringing with work, the computer shop finally found the problem and fixed it and my mobile suddenly started working again.
Sometimes, just sometimes, we have to retreat, recoil, sit in the sadess and chaos and lick our wounds. In this retreat amazing and wonderful gifts are transmitted to us to bring about magical and creative change.
Synchronicity does not always feel pleasant, but it is always synchronicity and it is always the natural order of things. Going with it, whatever it is, can only be a good thing.

Duality

Mixed emotions can be seen as mixed blessings. But personally I believe that we are all experiencing opposite emotions at exactly the same time - this is called duality. I first experienced this when I was in India four years ago. Words are not enough to describe the experience, but speaking of words; it was this experience that enabled me to really explore how I am feeling in this moment, which always contains such paradoxical feelings it can do nothing but create a rich tapestry for writing. Many people fear delving deep within their emotions, too unsure of what they will find, maybe even too scared to actually feel, who knows. but writers must must must throw themselves into the depth of their emotions for if we don't, what we produce will just merely skim the surface and what would be the point of that? Exactly. Be different and be brave enough to be vulnerable - then see what your mind creates for you.

Use This Full Moon To Write, Write, Write!!

Believe it or not, the full moon can have a HUGE affect on us writers. the moon has such a massive energetic pull on the earth and on water, of course, that it has a direct affect on our biochemistry, health and emotions. Generally speaking, the moon when it is full brings everything up to the surface. So write it down, whatever it is and try your hand at 'auotomatic writing' - where you don't think, just write whatever flows from your hand.
People, especially us sensitives, can often feel heightened emotion, melancholy, fear as well as elated, hopeful and giggly on a full moon. Just go with it, remind yourself its full tonight and I wish you well with creating something magical from this increased power! Matt x

The Art of Perseverance

What a wonderful start to the week. After receiving an email from a literary agent saying 'the market isn't ready for this' and 'I am very sorry but I'm not the agent for you' I very much enjoyed a wallow in self pity for three whole hours! I ate two huge cream donuts and my own body weight in Monster Munch. Then... I got up, did some sitting (meditation) had a punch on some pillows and sat at the pc. Within an hour a brand new shiny proposal was done, very specific to the publisher I intend it for, and by 5 O'clock it was in the post by special delivery.
Maybe they will accept it. Maybe not. It does not matter because I have suddenly (and quite unexpetently) become a man that does not give up!
It took JK Rowling 18 rejections of perseverance before finally getting Harry Potter into print. Today and for the rest of this week I will do my day job and spend the night thinking, writing and dreaming.
I had a thought today, well a memory actually, of an interview with Tina Turner. The interviewer asked:
'What were you dreaming about when you were stood in the cotton fields of Nutbush?' To which she replied:
'Getting out of the cotton fields!'

Check out more blogs and inspiring advice at: http://www.mattvalentine.webs.com