Kennedy F.
ENGL 322 Writing and the Creative Process
Spring 2022
I am going to spend as much time as I can creating delightful things out of my existence, because that’s what brings me awake and that’s what brings me alive.
- Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist, 85
Creating Delightful Things
When I was little, I would sit outside under the Maple tree in my yard, eyes closed, leaf shadows dancing amidst the sparkling sunlight, and I would dream. I would take my book outside, read, lay in the lazy filtered light, and wiggle as the grass scratched at my skin and the ideas in my head. I would wander inside after I would finally get a headache from laying in the sun all afternoon, and I would tell my mother about all of the ideas in my head. Every artist has a story, and the little girl under the Maple tree emerges at the beginning of mine. As a writer, creator, and dreamer from the beginning, my creative process was challenged, enhanced, and build stronger through the work that we did in this course.
Collage Project
One of my favorite projects from this course was the collage that I created from scraps of paper in my logbook. Most of the creative storytelling work I have done for courses so far in my English major has been through a written medium, and at first, I was challenged to tell a narrative and evoke the emotion that I wanted to through my work in a visual medium. However, as I began to plan for and create my collage as I sat at my table on a cloudy day in March, I realized that my creative abilities expanded beyond the medium of just writing. I was able to tap into a creative power that I did not realize I had. Since creating that college, I have felt my ability to walk through a creative process become easier and more familiar.
Storytelling Project
Another one of my favorite projects from this course was the storytelling project. I was challenged to write over 2,000 words of a creative fiction or non-fiction piece, and through this assignment, I completed a short creative fiction piece based on real-life experience. In a writing course that I took last fall, fall 2021, I began a crime-based short story about an experience I had on a grand jury the summer before my freshman year of college. I created a narrative around a girl named Mariah who walked through a similar experience as I did, but for the course last fall, I did not finish the piece. The storytelling project assignment from this course provided me with an opportunity to complete this short story and come full circle on the first short story that I have completed.
Found Poetry
The project that both challenged me and grew me the most was the “found poetry” that we created both in class and outside of class. “Found poetry” is a form of written art that involves taking select words or phrases from a page of a book, magazine, or web source and stitching them together to create a new written work. This project challenged me because I was not writing anything. I was simply rearranging what had already been written by someone else. I was able to create poems with words that I would not otherwise have chosen, and I was inspired to write more of my own poetry through this process.
Readings that Inspired Me
One of the readings that especially motivated me was a quote from Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon:
...the true love of something comes from the doing of it, not from its more obvious fruits (25).
This quote from the reading inspired me to first ask myself, “What are the more obvious fruits that emerge from creating something?” As I begin to step into a professional career in writing and usability design, I realize that one of the first obvious fruits that come from doing work within my profession is getting paid. While this is not the motivating factor behind my work, it is providing a means for me to continue to write in a creative, professional context. How can I begin to step outside the bounds of money when I first have to prioritize the tasks I am given for payment above those of my own personal creative motives? My true love for creativity in any form first came from the little girl who sat under the Maple tree and daydreamed. Her original dream was to create, and I am blessed to be able to pursue a career in which I get to improve in my creative process every day.
Another reading that captured both my creative essence and my life passion is a second quote from Austin Kleon’s Steal Like an Artist:
I am going to spend as much time as I can creating delightful things out of my existence, because that’s what brings me awake and that’s what brings me alive (85.)
I pondered, in a reflection of this course reading, that “...I want to dig into the idea that my life, while temporary, can be filled with beautiful, strange things.” This reading inspired me to take every chance I get to make the world a better, more beautiful place, whether that’s for other people or just for myself. The still moments when my thoughts and actions only affect myself are some of the most beautiful because through this creative flow, I am creating a place within myself from which delightful things can grow.