Elizabeth Gilbert and Creativity

Elizabeth Gilbert wrote Eat, Pray, Love. The epic woman's tale of finding yourself in foreign lands after a torturous divorce and rebound relationship gone wrong. Ostensibly, this book is everything that I, and any woman familiar with self-loathing and flagellation after being steamrolled by "man," could hope to read. It should appeal very particularly to women with firm groundings in feminist and independent female thought. Yet, I got maybe forty pages in before I dropped it on my bookshelf in disgust. (The first twenty-five pages is morose and self-pitying, with overly perverse depictions of her balled up on bathroom floors sobbing into tile. Really, uplifting. Try reading it.) I should go back and muscle through the pity since her trips to Italy and India are apparently transcendent vicarious experiences. Especially given my upcoming "walkabout" in Europe. But in the meantime, I'll just post the talk she gave at TED in Long Beach a couple days ago.

She talks about being a writer to some extent, but mostly she discusses the origins of creativity, and why it's often thought of as a torturous and soul depleting process in recent years as opposed to -- wait for it -- the blessing of an unknown being, inspiration from on high, or simply being in the right place at the right time.

I live in San Francisco, so mind you I am big on understanding. (Momma See last night actually said, "You're so tolerant with people. Maybe you shouldn't always be so tolerant, because until you demand, people won't perform.") Since moving home from Boston, I've become a little too "oh, you're such a special little snowflake" for my own tastes. But what Gilbert is suggesting -- the Daemon, deity, or whatever you want to call it, who visits you as you're working and imbues your work with creative genius -- is both the best and most ludicrous presentation of the creative process I've heard in awhile. I believe in the concept of divine inspiration. It's been around for millenia, and if anything I think talent and ability are gifts given before we're aware of their existence. But mostly, and I am a bit biased, I think Gilbert is a bit of a gas bag. My guess is she gave the speech as some disclaimer to how potentially bad her next book is going to be. Then again, if I were in her shoes (and really, who am I to critique since I'm not a New York Times bestselling author, now am I?) I would probably feel the same way.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is, she brings up an interesting idea about how we find inspiration. Or, rather, how we pursue inspiration by writing endlessly in spite of the long bouts of uninspiration between one good piece and another. But I hate that she presents it as this idea unique to her and a very select few. Many writers and artists, with the exception of the ultra narcissistic ones, feel that there is an ebb and flow to their talent. When there's an ebb, they usually start praying to God or bartering with the devil to get the slightest hint of creative ability. While I was at Robert Mckee's seminar last march, one of the best pieces of wisdom he offered us (and one which will stick with me probably for the rest of my life) is that 90% of what you write is going to be absolute shit. But you keep writing so you can get the 10% that is absolute gold.

Hopefully my diatribe hasn't swayed you from watching the twenty minutes of her talk. If you've never thought about the creative process in this way before, it's worth hearing just so you can turn it over in your head a few times. I'll give Gilbert credit for that. You're not the only one who thought that up, but keep spreading the gospel, sister, apparently that's what you're best at.

P.S. Does anyone else think she seems kind of like she's trying to look like Steve Jobs at MacWorld?