The Butterfly Effect
I’m working on a theory about creative practice that I’d like to run by you. It’s a bit of a zig-zag, but stick with me as I think its worth pondering.
We don’t make things without some kind of outside force.
Loyal readers may recall that just last month, I fretted over how long it had been since I had written something new. I asked, “Are we still writers if we aren’t generating new material?” I wrote that I was close to three years without a new project to throw myself into and that I felt lost without one as an organizing principle.
Out those words went, across the internet, as they do.
Less than a week later, a reverberation from left field. A yes from an artist residency for a three-week retreat to begin a project I pitched last year. I had sent a sketch of an idea; the seeds for a garden. But with this news, the universe seemed to be saying yes, yes! you can have time and space to do this thing.
All of this got me thinking about Isaac Newton’s three laws of physics.
Bear with me for a moment.
First law: Newton found that an object at rest will stay that way unless something forceful moves it. (Could applying to that residency and putting my fingers to the keys to write about my fear of writer’s block be considered “a force”?)
Second: Objects move harder and faster when something pushes it. (Perhaps posting the piece could be considered a “push.”)
And, finally, the third: When an object is pushed in one direction, there is always a resistance of equal magnitude in the opposite direction which suggests that there’s a sort of symmetry of pairs in nature. That one body cannot exert a force on another without experiencing a force itself. (Could the duo of writing and posting my biggest fear and releasing that vulnerability into the world have set something in motion?)
Like how the movement of a butterfly’s wings can have an impact weather systems - that allegory for chaos theory suggesting that everything is indeed connected.
I’ve seen a version of this play out with my writing clients. Their great ideas are either set in motion or they produce more pages when there is an assignment, prompt, question(s) or deadline. A gentle - or not so gentle - prod as force.
So what to make of this?
I think that these laws of physics suggest that it takes action to set the wheels turning on making. We can’t just sit back and wait for inspiration. We need to write that draft. Paint that canvas. Sculpt that clay. Sew that quilt. Submit that essay. Apply for that contest or residency. Go to that conference. Register for that class. Call that artist and meet for coffee.
All of these have the power to shift our artistic desires from a dream into forward motion.
To animate the butterfly and watch it flutter across the sky.
Photo by Jian Xhin
Coming Up
Headling stories about love at Take Flight Spirits microdistillery. Skokie. Skokie Arts Commission event. Thursday, February 16, 2023.
“How to Write Trauma Without Retraumatizing Yourself.” Ritualwell (online). Free, one and a half hour single session workshop. Tuesday, March 28, 2023, 10 am (CT).
“From Brokenness to Healing: Making Meaning Through Memoir.” Ritualwell (online). Six-week workshop on writing trauma from a place of strength and craft. Tuesdays, April 25 - May 23, 2023, 11-12:30 pm (CT).