Why You Should Pursue Your Art and Improve Your Creativity, or Else

I’m taking a class on fiction called the Complete Craft Toolkit and it’s awesome. The material approaches storytelling in a way I’ve never encountered before and acknowledges how language and the source material have to be applied and mixed with utmost care in order to create a compelling, beautiful, and entertaining story. It’s like baking a torte cake or a souffle: you must have all the ingredients and a careful touch in blending them or the result simply won’t be amazing.

Most of all, though, this class reminds me of being in school, specifically my freshman year in college when I quickly realized I wasn’t the smartest kid around—not even close—and was near panic the entire time trying to figure out what things meant and how to get all the stuff done.

I’m also worried about getting my assignments in on time and that the teacher knows I’m trying real hard. I’m sixty years old and I’m still afflicted with all the anxieties I suffered starting in fourth grade.

Fourth grade is when some kids start to figure out how to influence people and make friends.

Fourth grade is when some kids start to crave the power that comes from being the center of attention.

Fourth grade is when some kids mature a little while other kids remain childlike, and they self-separate into groups and cliques.

I was without a great, reliable friend in fourth grade, and had trouble adapting. Mostly, I was still childlike, and didn’t understand what I needed to do to be liked better.

I think fourth grade was when I started searching for ways to entertain people. Eventually, in high school, having chased many ways to be entertaining, I considered becoming a novelist. Write a great book and lots of people would love me, I thought.

Of course, one doesn’t simply write a great book.

I’m not alone in saying grade school was rough, and I think it was actually fine, as far as growing up goes, and I’m not looking for sympathy.

Mostly I’m grateful because that desire to entertain has fueled my creativity and need to learn how to do things. It has forced me to think about life, human relations, and how we all get along (or don’t get along) as I learn how to write and tell stories.

Had everything gone along swimmingly, without ever feeling left out and unsure of who was my friend, maybe I’d have lived a simple, stress-free life surrounded by a circle of friends but never figuring out how to tell amazing stories.

The life of a writer or an artist is cool because we think about the world and try to give it meaning. We also want others to share in what we’ve made, hopefully bringing joy to their lives.

We all have the amazing gift of consciousness from the universe. We also have a certain amount of self-determination and free will allowing us to bear witness to universe. Granted, a great deal of pain and suffering happens in life, but we get to bear witness to all of it if we choose.

I take a few classes on writing every year and read at least one book on writing. It’s driven by the anxieties of a child, but it fuels the creativity of an adult trying to understand our world.

That’s why it’s a great thing to be an artist, and to pursue the craft. There’s something we all can do to be more artist-like and the benefit, even if we never figure out how to be one of the best, is that we all experience this life a little more fully.

There’s only this one life you get to live. Chasing an artistic dream isn’t a bad way to live. In fact, it may be the most exultant way to live.