Pace and Kyeli Smith are the co-founders of the Freak Revolution — and with all this talk of creativity floating around this week’s launch of the Creative Spark Plug series, I thought, who better to ask about her creative process? Starting any kind of revolution is a creative endeavor, and you have to delve into some serious creative courage to start a freak revolution.
And thankfully, the very lovely Pace Smith kindly obliged my request. Below, she shares her exploration of the creative impulse — including what she’s come to understand while working bravely towards her goals in doing what she loves every day of her life: Quantity versus quality, and slowing down… to speed up.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about my creative muse, it’s that she is fragile. Crush her gossamer wings beneath the 10-ton weight of a looming deadline and she folds, whimpering. The Whipmaster is always ready to step in and get cracking, but the Whipmaster has no heart, no soul. When the Whipmaster drives me to create, what I create lacks that elusive spark.
We started the Freak Revolution to change the world while doing what we love for a living. Feeling whipped and crushed isn’t what I love. So when I find myself feeling stressed, I take a step back. How important is it that I hurry? What bad things will happen if I miss this milestone? How might things turn out if I plan this as a two-month project instead of a one-month project?
Sometimes, for instance when we’ve made a public commitment to our people and don’t want to let them down, it is worth the stress to buckle down and get things done. Still, I always feel better having chosen it on purpose instead of by default. I always feel more empowered if I rephrase things positively, saying “This is what I most want to do” instead of “This is what I have to do.”
Most of the time, I mindfully choose the slower path. Life is like music, meant to be enjoyed while it’s happening, not rushed through as quickly as possible. With practice, I learn to do this when I’m planning instead of after I overcommit.
The amazing thing is that the slower path is actually faster. Simply having a little breathing room opens things up, gets the creative juices flowing, and creates space for my muse to fly. Having a month’s worth of blog posts queued up frees my inspiration. I write when the mood strikes me, and the queue magickally never empties. Like a tightrope walker, having a safety net helps you stay steady, even if you never use it.
I’ll gladly sacrifice a little quantity if it means that everything I create is imbued with that spark of quality. That spark of soul-richness, that spark from She of the gossamer wings, that spark that shines through when it’s glaringly obvious that I’m in love with the world.
What could you learn about your creative impulse if you paid attention? And how much improved would your life be if you took that extra time to put quality into your work — inspiration, affection, passion — and made it your art?
Megan Elizabeth Morris (aka MEM, Megan the M.) is a bonafide professional catalyst and adventurer. She's the Ideaschema instigator, orchestrator and autodidact, and you can find out more about her by clicking here.Got an idea? Something we haven't thought of? Whatever you're thinking, we want to hear it. Please feel free to leave comments or email us by clicking here.
