Cutting off our creativity makes us savage.

"Cutting off our creativity makes us savage."

                                ~Julia Cameron
That's true, you can ask my wife. If I miss a day of writing, I turn into a cranky old man. I can feel it happening to myself, I can feel the rage building up throughout the day. On the other hand, if I write for two or three hours, I feel great, really, super-duper great. It's like Jekyll and Hyde, except I get more irritable than evil. Cameron is basically saying that reaction is normal, which is a relief because I don't particularly like Cranky Pants Leck, he's surly and absolutely no fun. But, according to Cameron, I probably can't avoid him rearing his ugly head if I try to avoid my writing, or replace it with an occupation that's considered more responsible or mature. Which reminds me of an anecdote David Lynch shares in his book, Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity. Lynch relates a time, early in his career, when his father and brother sat him down and basically said he needed to straighten up and get a real job and forget about finishing his film, Eraserhead. Lynch admits that he did go out and get a job, he got a job delivering the Wall Street Journal for $50 a week. He'd save up some of that money and shoot more of the movie, eventually finishing it. Eraserhead has earned a huge cult following and launched Lynch's successful career. Sometimes you just have to keep going.