Pay attention. It's all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager. ― Susan Sontag

Creativity Prompt #1: Paying Attention | 30-Day Creativity Challenge

It’s here! The first day of our creativity challenge! If you want to head straight to the prompt, you can do that by clicking here. But I recommend reading through the whole post, which isn’t that long, but will help prime you for the best, richest experience of the prompt itself. And remember, we’ll be over in the Shimmer & Shards chat every day talking about our experiences, so please share if you like! I love hearing from you. And with that, let’s dive in.

I want to start with Mary Oliver’s instructions for living a life, which are to pay attention, be astonished, and tell about it.

This, I agree, is beautiful advice. The only problem is that even those of us who are actively seeking to improve our attention-paying skills tend to rush too quickly into the “telling about it” part.

Why is this a problem?

Because as soon as we are telling about something, we are no longer paying attention to it.

And what exactly does it mean to tell about it? This is an important question, because we can’t avoid something if we don’t define it. So, telling about it might mean literally speaking or writing about what astonished you, yes. But it can also simply mean thinking our way into a story, rather than sticking with paying attention to the thing itself.

Remember, as soon as we’re thinking our way into a story, we’re no longer attending. As soon as we are spinning a narrative about something, we are no longer seeing it for what it is. We are not capable of doing both things at the same time.  

Still, you might be be wondering what’s so wrong with thinking our way into stories? Isn’t that kind of what it means to be writers, after all? Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? What we’re best at?

The answer is yes, but also no. Because the best, truest material will always come from deep attention, which must not only begin but also remain long enough in the world around us. Again, our attention must remain long enough on something outside of ourselves for us to see through that thing like a window, as the poet Marie Howe compels us to do. When we leap too quickly into the realm of story, we effectively remove our attention from the thing itself and instead wander inward toward our own thoughts, ideas, interpretations, desires, judgments, etc.

There’s a time for all that, certainly. The inner world is a crucial realm for us to explore. But, by and large, we spend too much time there. The fact is we tend to enjoy story-making and inward mental activity far better than we enjoy the quiet, disciplined act of observation. That’s why most of us must actively work at paying attention to what’s in front of us if we ever hope to get better at it.

Is it worth getting better at it? Especially if it’s so much work?

I believe whole-heartedly that it is. As I have said before, I believe that the number one most helpful practice you can take up to improve your writing is to pay close attention to the world. If you do this consistently and record your observations meticulously, your writing will explode with a realness and a vividness you cannot achieve any other way. Too much of the writing submitted to me relies on abstractions and internal reflection without earning its proclamations with clear-eyed, truthful observations of the world we all share. I need precise, concrete renderings—of the world, this world, the one you and I both live in, the one I recognize—for work to come fully alive.

So many extraordinary artists (and scientists and other creatives) had the benefit of childhoods spent in deep, quiet attention. Beatrix Potter, for example, who went on to become not just one of the most beloved children’s authors and illustrators of all time but also an accomplished scientist and conservationist, spent her formative years paying deep attention to and sketching plants and animals:

Her pets took the place of school friends, and she spent hours observing and sketching them. This activity evolved into a love of and aptitude for natural history, science, and art. In the summers, Potter's father rented a country house in which the family vacationed for three months. During her earlier years, the Potters spent their summers in Scotland, but they began to summer in the Lake District as she grew older. On these holidays, she rambled the countryside studying plants and animals.

As Simone Weil said, “Attention, taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer. It presupposes faith and love. Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.”

So, for all of these reasons and more, your first invitation of the 30-Day Creativity Challenge is to spend five quiet minutes paying attention. Here are the details.