Gremlins

      Remember the movie “Gremlins?” A happy little Christmas story right? Well, the creative process is a lot like Christmas in that movie. It should be all happiness and presents under the tree but instead we have little monsters running around in our heads messing up everything.
     When you’re sitting in front of the TV eating Ice Cream the monsters are like Gizmo. They are happy and soft, cuddly and soothing. They love you and you love them. But start making plans to go to the gym or record an album and it’s like feeding them after midnight. They turn nasty on you. Start to argue with them or even just negotiate and you might as well be tossing them in the YMCA pool. The suckers are going to multiply fast and you are in trouble with a capital T.
     So what’s the secret? You can’t just give up on doing anything worthwhile for fear of your monsters getting nasty. The first secret is to do your best not to argue or negotiate with them. Don’t get them wet. When your little montsers start screaming how your writing will never be any good and you always give up on the gym anyway try this:

1. Thank them for their opinion.
     No drama, no screaming in your head. Just take quiet, simple action. It’s like in the movie when Billy wanders into the kitchen and catches a gremlin playing in the blender. He hits the power button and gremlin puree! Quiet, simple action has the same effect.
Also, don’t worry; the monsters in your head aren’t going away. They will have a sequel. Hopefully like “Gremlins II” the story won’t be as compelling and you won’t bother watching. That’s how it works with monsters. The less you engage them the less interesting their stories will become. Though they may come back, as say, dinosaurs in a “Jurassic Park” storyline or Jason in a “Friday the 13th” sort of thing. The monsters are like that. If you learn to ignore one story they create they will work hard to get your attention another way. But in the end, they’re all just gremlins and when you recognize them as such you can choose not to feed them and not to get them wet.