Originally published on Substack, August 25, 2025. https://kellietheridge.substack.com/p/the-reciprocity-of-creativity-in
Sometimes it’s a struggle for me to finish a book, but perhaps not for the reason you might guess. A page-turner makes me want to put the book down even more than a duller read. Why? I find myself inspired by the words, the plot, and the dialogue in the story. My own ideas interrupt the narrative in the book, and I have to grab pen and paper and follow these thoughts down the path of creativity. Even with a book whose subject has nothing to do with what I’m writing, I can be derailed from reading by an internal voice nagging me to abandon the words in front of me for the words inside me clamouring to get out. It’s beautiful and frustrating all at once, but I’ve learned to anticipate and embrace it.
Live musical performances also have this effect on me. The more intimate the better – a house concert, a small folk gathering, an impromptu jam session. The musical genre is irrelevant, but what triggers flow in me is flow in them. I can sense when a musician is in the moment, in the groove. Their own connection to the song tethers me to their performance. At that moment, I feel a oneness with the musician/s and the audience. Thoughts and connections invade my head rapid-fire, and I feel alive with inspiration.
I do everything I can to pluck the ideas from the ether around me as quickly as possible and tuck them into a mental pocket before they can float off and be forgotten forever. They are often fleeting, and I have to find ways to secure them into my consciousness. Some have gotten away in the past when I haven’t had a place to trap them. Now I almost always carry a notebook and pen with me so I can capture ideas. Sometimes I will make notes during a performance, and sometimes I’ll wait until afterwards. I will add notes to my phone if I forget my notepad, but I never do this during a performance. Writing in a notebook is much less rude than being on your phone while someone is performing for you.
For the same reason, every book I read is accompanied by a notebook, a ready reservoir for my thoughts.
In Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert defines an idea as a “disembodied, energetic life form”. And while this may not be scientifically accurate, it describes how ideas feel to me. Inspiration appears like a stray dog arriving on my doorstep looking for a home. I don’t want to turn it away, but I’m not always aware of its presence, and sometimes I’m just not home to welcome it. Elizabeth Gilbert continues the idea of ideas: “But sometimes–rarely, but magnificently–there comes a day when you’re open and relaxed enough to actually receive something. Your defenses might slacken and your anxieties might ease, and then magic can slip through. The idea, sensing your openness, will start to do its work on you.”
And that is what a good book or musical performance can do for me. When I’m relaxed, connected, and willing, the door opens wide and ideas wander in and make themselves at home.
Your Flow Homework
- Read more – fiction, not fiction, in your genre and outside of it.
- Expose yourself to more creativity – live music, art galleries, live author/poet readings.
- Listen for that voice while reading or experiencing art.
- Be prepared to capture your ideas – phone notes, notebook, voice memos.
- Surround yourself with other creatives within your discipline and beyond. Flow is enhanced in a group setting. Creativity itself is a flow trigger, which then enhances creativity.
I’d love to hear about moments where you felt yourself become deeply creative in the presence of someone else’s creativity.
Big news for me: I’m headed to Los Angeles in October to be part of Steven Kotler’s Flow for Writers.
https://www.stevenkotler.com/flowforwriters
To accomplish this task, I only had to submit an application, tell my imposter syndrome backseat driver to shut-the-fuck-up, be selected as one of only 50 participants, and make the investment (which terrifies me just a little).
I feel a deep trust about the value of the upcoming experience. It will shape my future. I’m excited for the flow-state superpowers to come.
