Creative Process and Product: Ten Evolutionary Characteristics—Part I

Alas, my obsessive, “word artist” nature is proving somewhat vexing.  Some parties interested in publishing or sharing the recently renamed Resiliency Rap, “A Generational-Digital Diatribe:  Still, Don’t Be Afraid to Pet the Dinosaur (aka ‘Dinos & Digits’),” understandably are a bit perturbed by my sending out upgraded versions.  I appreciate the taxing nature of 11^th hour production changes; and sometimes you have to stand pat.  Believe me, I think I’m finished with the piece…but it’s like an organic version of the old movie monster, “The Blob.”  It keeps morphing and expanding.  And it certainly is consuming me.  (Perhaps the 21^st century film version should be called “The Blog.”  I promise the changes are not trivial.  In fact, the current iteration now has a catchy “Dinos & Digits” chorus.)

First, let me present the latest version.  (Of note, I haven’t made an upgrade in the last 3-4 days.  The previous week I was up each night, during the middle of the night, furiously making changes.)  Next is an essay on why a creative product seemingly takes on a life of its own, and how an honest author or designer must go with the flow.

 

A Generational-Digital Diatribe:

Still, Don’t Be Afraid to Pet the Dinosaur  (aka “Dinos & Digits”)

 

Why does the digital world spin so fast?
Why can't I simply hold on to the past?
Facebook, tweeting, smart apps...oh what's next?
It’s no longer “Safe Stress” ™…now it’s “Practice Safe Text”!!

I am the turtle; the Gens are the hare

They’re always racing, but why…and to where?
Those short cut acronyms…geez, what a crock

My poor English teach…in anaphylactic shock!

 

And do you use email to settle a score

With that mortal colleague residing next door?

The “e” in email – your Face-to-Face “escape”

Go blast that e-rocket fueled by sour grapes.

 

Okay, three hundred messages that for you await

May have something to do with a volatile state.

Does always being wired make you real tired?

Or are you real tired of always being so wired?

 

Don’t blame the company; they’re just doing their best

In getting the troops to “Do More with Less.”

It’s not PTSD but PTDS –

Post-Technological Deluge Stress!

 

Dinos and Digits, both give me the fidgets
Digits and Dinos, they sure can be whinos!

Smoldering anger, the anonymous stranger

Why not live large on the edge of danger:

Talk “thumb trash” and bully; “be happy, don’t worry”…

Having an avatar means never being sorry.

 

Hey, it’s just a multi-tasking age

Where ADHD is all of the rage.

When instant gratification seems a delay…

BOREDOM!  ASAP:  Start texting away.

 

With all things wireless, you're always on board
Alas, still tied to that e-umbilical cord?
Oh, no…can't use your phone or get online...
Blood pressure PANIC  surges most every time.

It’s “Privacy vs. Piracy”:  we’re under viral attack.
And now identity theft from the neighborhood hack.
Even big Uncle Sam cannot safely “hold em”
Playing NSA Poker with one Mr. Snowden!

Why do these young guns keep talking so fast?

And spelling, of course, now a thing of the past.

Or when presenting – a web session or on a Skype phone

Please, an occasional pause…don’t just drone on an on.

 

Dinos and Digits can be mental widgets
Digits and Dinos, like spoiled bambinos.

Younger folks say “inclusion,” a trophy for all

Forming an identity that’s off the Facebook Wall.

When grizzled gens want winners not mere pretenders

One must divide Alphas from “those bleeding heart losers.”

 

Of course, many leaders don’t have a clue

For an e-conference, just what do you do?

Without live eyes and warm bodies keeping safe solid ground

“Little Napoleons” start throwing their own head-weight around.

 

And for those folks who both drive and talk

As if life is but one stroll in the park.

Or sleepwalk and text…and what do they expect?

Either I clear a path or I’m the pain in the neck.

 

Believe me; it wouldn’t take much of a dare

To shove that damn phone right up their…hot air!

Man, I’m sounding more and more like a grouch

Maybe what’s needed is another approach.

Dinos and Digits, there’s got to be limits
Digits and Dinos…the fate of White Rhinos?

A crusade:  “Save the Analog Whales” ™…Is it asking too much?
But first, lure digital hare-brains from their wired world hutch.
Pull heads out of smart phones; break FOMO ** media habits.
(Though “Get a Life” Coaching is for “Dinos,” not just “Digits.”)

Of course, do not go cold turkey with a cyber-addiction…
Play “Past Life Regression” ®; the “calmer shooter” or Kama Sutra *** position.
Find a virtual guru, one who’s no techno slouch…now
Plug-and-play (if not hug-and-pay) on that 3-D “smart couch.”

Well, let me reach closure, before I “break bad”

On those always bragging about their iPad.

Consider my words, they are pretty rad:

I truly don’t mean to sound unkind…

Keep your iPad; I prefer an I-Mind!

 

 

**  FOMO:  Fear of Missing Out

 

*** (a sexual position illustrated by the ancient Indian text; personal preference)

 

 

© Mark Gorkin  2013

Shrink Rap Productions

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Actually, the ongoing transformation is most revealing of vital aspects of creative problem-solving.  Both for self-reflection purposes and perhaps for reader education and enlightenment, I will outline, “Ten Characteristics of an Evolving Creative Process and Product”:

 

1.  Engaging the Forest and Trees.  Making novel or creative connection often demands going back and forth between a “Forest and Trees” perspective.  And fully engaging both vantage points – parts and whole – with their different demands and needs, can be perplexing and time consuming.  (And most people have preferences in their thinking style:  analytical types often initially deduce or build one stump at a time the whole from parts; others use inductive reasoning, inducing if not intuiting parts from the whole.  And the creator is constantly ebbing and flowing, and occasionally floundering, between the two.)  A forest perspective provides the border pieces of those 1,000 word puzzles; what seems in and out of bounds.  You have a better (or at least initial) grasp of the big picture that you are tackling.  Ironically, you can get a sense of this larger picture – both boundaries and possibilities – by quickly jotting down bullet points-parts.  I then assess similarities and differences, seeing if any:  a) are out of bounds and b) can be combined to form a broader concept or image, that is, a subset if not a “whole.”  At the risk of intermingling metaphors, these points become a hodgepodge of ingredients that will be mixed and matched, if not blended, to comprise the first sampling of a poetic gumbo.

 

The trees provide individual details; trees help sharpen the reader’s or viewer’s focus by distinguishing evergreens from leaves with seasonal color.   As a vital part, trees make a work more specific in focus and vivid in tone.  However, individual trees may serve a greater purpose, sometimes by disrupting a context or pattern.  When a tree becomes sufficiently different in structure or character, or some trees project a new and compelling meaning or story, then you may have to go back to the drawing- or keyboard:  you either cut down or replant the tree or, and this often propels creative upgrade or evolutionary adaptation, you begin to reconfigure the “big picture” forest.

For example, I came up with a phrase that captured the endpoints of the “Generational-Digital Spectrum” – “Dinos & Digits.”  After some gnawing inside, I knew that the “D & D” tree just had to be featured in a recurring refrain, e.g., Dinos and Digits, both give me the fidgets…Digits and Dinos, they sure can be whinos.”  The whole was being impacted by a part.  This structural shift also provided a visual break on the screen and page, helped introduce the theme of a new segment, and generated an aural change of poetic rhythm.  Finally, the “hook” helped broaden the larger lyric’s meaning and message:  the verse was more clearly poking fun at the digital-adversarial extremes.

 

2.  Challenging and Clarifying, Unifying and Tightening the Message.  The forest perspective is like a stage light, more soft and diffuse in nature.  A trees mindset is like an intense spotlight focused on a narrower issue or image.  The analytic trees perspective may be needed not simply to spruce up or trim specific trees but, more importantly, to puncture some holes in the global forest template.  Some deviant trees cannot be disguised or hidden by the forest canopy.  Naturally, there may be a struggle:  should one or two trees be allowed to disrupt my “holistic and harmonious” representation, one that seemed set?  This may slow the process, yet it also may strengthen the product.  Such rethinking often yields a new eco-contextual and psycho-logical synthesis of forest and trees.

 

My objective is to make “Resiliency Poetry” accessible and user-friendly for large numbers of readers.  Ideally, clarity is facilitated not obscured by concrete imagery.  Consider this updated third line of the following stanza:

 

And do you use email to settle a score

With that mortal colleague residing next door?

The “e” in email is your best means of “escape”

 

is changed to

 

The “e” in email – your Face-to-Face “escape.”

Go blast that e-rocket fueled by sour grapes.

 

First, I believe “F-2-F” tightens the verbiage, eliminating non-essential words.  Next, the edit sharpens the idea that when dealing with interpersonal conflict many use email and texting to avoid personal engagement and responsibility.

 

Of course, another means of enhancing accessibility and memorability is through the use of humor.  As I once penned:  People are less defensive and more open to a serious message gift-wrapped with humor.  So the challenge is to add a touch of humor, especially of a surprising or unexpected nature (e.g., email as an “e-missile”) to each stanza, especially in the closing punch line.  It’s a test:  four lines to send a mirthful message or two.

 

I am the turtle; the Gens are the hare

They’re always racing, but why…and to where?
Those short cut acronyms…geez, what a crock

My poor English teach…in anaphylactic shock!

 

Two masters of the art encourage taking up the challenge:

 

Shakespeare:  Brevity is the soul of wit.

 

Twain:  Wit is the sudden marriage of ideas which before their union were not perceived to have any relation!

 

3.  Eyeballing and Ear-calling.  Alas, sometimes there is no shortcut to realizing you need to make cuts.  One must eyeball and re-read over days if not weeks, and sometimes longer, to detach from the familiar or comfortable; to discover a new idea or image or to question the authenticity of your pearls.  Simultaneously, you are enabling the subconscious to percolate alternate images and ways of expression.  And sleeping on a problem is a great way to obtain a fresh pair of eyes…and even ears.  This is why I’m skeptical when people flat out say that they do their best work at the 11^th hour.  Unless a person has been cogitating on material for a good while, you can’t be at your most imaginative or original only fueled by a deadline-induced adrenaline rush.

 

In addition, certainly with poetry, it’s important not just to reread the material, but to recite it aloud over time.  Aural repetition is especially helpful in determining the most efficient and effective rhythms and rhymes.  So utilize and combine your senses to maximize your process and product.  Try taking an “incubation vacation” to hatch a new and enriched perspective!

Finally, “ear-calling” through repeated recitation and rhythmic meditation may stimulate recalling; for me, "e-c" evokes the notion of a multi-sensorial “memory echo.”  This process, akin to incubation, provides access to a psychic wellspring of shadow ideas and images that may refresh or animate, may help broaden and deepen both trees and forest.
 

4.  Trusting My Creative Discontent.  Oftentimes eyeballing and ear-calling comes into play because a writer is willing to trust his or her gut.    A word, phrasing, rhyme, or image is not quite right or can glow or grow even brighter or brasher.  So as many great minds have stated:  An ability to formulate the right problem – with sufficient complexity and elegance – is often more difficult and important than achieving a correct, sufficient, or acceptable answer.  Surely this is so when aspiring to be unconventional, satirical, and/or original.

5.  “Going from Good to Great.”  Constructive discontent – wanting to elevate the product or perspective – is a necessary yet not sufficient characteristic of going from good to great.   Such a metamorphosis requires persistent examination and questioning:  looking at and listening to particular trees and assessing both the individual and overall goodness of fit.  In addition, there must be some curiosity if not some frustration with the existing tree-forest examples, patterns, and/or boundaries.

The search for perfection does not equate

With an intent to go from “good to great”

When you can’t get out of that starting gate.

Unless being stuck in that mental muck

Should prove more pluck than mere dumb luck

Then one will grapple, dream, and incubate

So that neurons spin, combine, and gyrate

What’s next…Aha!...that creative state???
 

And Part II will highlight five hands on “how to”s (process) for maximizing creative evolution (product):
 

• Striving for Visual Metaphors
• Sharing and Soliciting
• Letting Go with the Rhyme Scheme
• Resisting the Urge to “Just Be Finished.”
• Recognizing “You Can Go Home Again.”

Until then, just remember…Practice Safe Stress!

 

 

Mark Gorkin, MSW, LICSW, "The Stress Doc" ™, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, is a national keynote and webinar speaker and "Motivational Humorist & Team Communication Catalyst" known for his interactive, inspiring and FUN programs for both government agencies and major corporations.  A training and Critical Incident/Grief Intervention Consultant for the National EAP/Wellness Company, Business Health Services in Baltimore, MD, the Doc has also led “Stress, Team Building and Humor” programs for various branches of the Armed Services.  Mark, a former Stress and Violence Prevention Consultant for the US Postal Service, is the author of Practice Safe Stress and of The Four Faces of Anger.  See his award-winning, USA Today Online "HotSite" -- www.stressdoc.com -- called a "workplace resource" by National Public Radio (NPR).  For more info on the Doc's programs or to receive his free e-newsletter, email stressdoc@aol.com.