Elizabeth Gilbert has a theory about creativity that most people don't expect: ideas are alive. They have will, urgency, and a kind of patience that runs out.
In this conversation, Shay talks with Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love, Committed, and Big Magic, about where ideas come from and what happens when we let them sit too long. They get into the novel Gilbert worked on for years and then set down when her own life fell apart, the one that turned up almost beat for beat in her close friend Ann Patchett's next book. They talk about why she's never feared having an idea stolen, and what two years without a new idea taught her about waiting.
If you've ever wondered where your best ideas come from, or worried the ones you let go of are gone, this conversation gives you a different way to think about it.
Ideas Covered in This Episode
The novel Elizabeth almost wrote, and how it ended up in Ann Patchett's hands instead
Why ideas behave like visitors, not possessions
The real difference between an idea being stolen and an idea being caught
What two years with no new ideas taught Elizabeth about waiting
"Shorty, chill": the journaling practice that got her through a creative dry spell
Why Elizabeth has never once worried about someone stealing her work
The forest hikes that gave Shay twenty-two songs she never meant to write
Who you should never show your unfinished work to, and why
Why you can fail at making money from your art, but never at the art itself
Tom Waits' circus metaphor for accepting the size of your own creative life
How a synchronicity Shay manifested on a Mexican beach led to this interview
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