As the days and then weeks pass, you find yourself justifying the fact that you appear to be building up an impressive collection of untouched ideas and half-started stories. What's that? No, I couldn't possibly sit down to write now. I mean, Arsenal's on the television. And it's been a long day at work. And that pile of freshly-bought books that's accumulating by my bed isn't going to read itself you know. How could you even think to suggest that I take the time to write?! How irresponsible! How naive!
You begin to read back over the lucky pieces that held your attention long enough to be finished. You marvel, wondering who it was exactly that was inspired enough to pick up that pen and write, as it certainly couldn't have been you.
And so, whilst my writer's block fights the good fight, here's a little something that I wrote a few months back that I'm sharing now to try maintain the facade that I'm a budding authoress just waiting to be discovered and plucked out of obscurity. Now if you'd excuse me, I need to return to the book I'm forcing myself to finish.
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Ah the beauty of the manifesto. Such a simple and yet powerful tool. For those that find themselves to be of a creative disposition (that’s right, I’m referring to you), there’s some particularly goosebump-inducing ones around at the moment. With many of them,you’ll surface in the real world only to realise that, in the four minutes it’s taken you to read the piece, you’ve somehow decided to become a Beat writer in the style of Jack Kerouac, or joined a community of ukulele players, or started to make jewellery out of discarded toenail clippings.
They have the ability to make you question everything you thought you believed in. You’ll find yourself nodding along emphatically in unison with the lyrical genius that assembled the words, who could only have had a root around in your subconscious whilst you were looking the other way wondering what to eat for dinner.
By way of illustration, here’s a few that I’ve come across in my travels that made me realise that I’ve clearly been living my life in entirely the wrong way; that I need to reject my current lifestyle, and take up a life of whim, spontaneity, and other related synonyms:
The Holstee Manifesto
The Incomplete Manifesto for Growth
The Right Brain Manifesto
And then, whilst on a plane hurtling towards a week of sunshine and relaxation – after writing a somewhat pretentious and ranting monologue about the absence of curiosity in some people – I found myself writing my own non-manifesto, aimed at touting the joy of being a little ‘intense’ once in a while. Oh yes. I may not have the ability to design an achingly beautiful poster, but I shall fell empires with the truth of my pen. Artists! Writers! Office workers! Milkmen! Viva la revolution!
What makes you happy?
What do you find beautiful?
What inspires you?
Who inspires you?
How do you best express yourself?
What do you enjoy creating?
What do you question?
Do you ask people what they think and feel? Do you listen to their answers?
Do you question yourself? What excites you, what scares you?
When was the last time you spoke about ideas instead of the weather or what you did over the weekend?
How do you feel when someone questions what you’ve said?
Do you ever let your mind wander and ponder?
Do you ever verbalise, picturise, musicise, or writicise your wanderings and ponderings?
What do you think about life, the universe and everything?
How do you feel about intensity of conversation, intensity of thought, intensity of connection with another person?
How do you interpret the world around you, the things you see, the things you hear?
Are you still learning? Who from, what from, how?
Does what you learn excite you, do you ever want to share it, talk about it? Does it ever make you realise how much more you have to learn?
Are you open to new ideas, to being inspired, to questioning, to expressing, creating, to making mistakes, to acknowledging what makes you happy, to not answering these questions but to using them as a way of looking beneath and beyond that which you see?
Are you human? Are you reflective? Are you unique? Are you afraid of being judged?
Are you machine?
Can you think for yourself?
Are you looking for a manifesto?
This is not a manifesto.
Write your own manifesto.
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