The Pleasure of Creation

A New Year's Tale

Pleasure is usually associated with the senses, but there are other sorts of pleasure as well. I was going to write about Strange Pleasures that are not sense-driven (which I will do next time), but something else came up. And the senses have nothing to do with it!

In late December, I had been grimly trying to promote my forthcoming novel. I had been occupied with decorations and meals. I had been enjoying seeing friends and hanging out with the sons who came home for Christmas (two out of three ain’t bad!). On New Year’s Day, I found myself with no pressing tasks. We were going to a holiday party at four, but I had a couple of hours to myself.

I gave myself a New Year’s gift: the Pleasure of Creation. I went into my study, closed the door, and wrote a very short story, 750 words, a piece of flash fiction that had been rolling around in my head for days. It’s the third part of a triptych. Each little story is about a widow, Phoebe, 57, and her comic online travails. I knew the general contours of this third story but not the conclusion. And then, on page three, the ending appeared! What a surge of fulfillment I felt when I typed “The End.” I had written “The Default Face” in one sitting!  Now I was ready to leave my world and eat and drink with others.

Roland Barthes wrote a book, The Pleasure of the Text, about reading and bliss. But the pleasure of writing and completing the text is even greater!

So what, exactly, is the pleasure of creation? It’s the extreme satisfaction of “creating something from nothing,” as John Updike put it. What you have made has never existed before and would never have existed without you. Whether you’re painting a picture, writing a song, sculpting a statue, or making a graph, when you are done, there is something in the world that was not there before. Is it beautiful and meaningful? Perhaps. For now, it is simply there, and you, godlike, have called it forth. What a powerful pleasure! Many writers live for the blissful moments that follow “The End.”

Moments? Alas, the bliss is usually very brief! The thrill of finishing the first draft of a novel may last a little longer, maybe ten minutes, but the joy does not persist for long. At least not for me.

Writers write for many reasons: to communicate with others, to tell a great story, to dramatize injustice, to make people laugh, to make people think, to memorialize their lives. But for me, the main motivation is to make something with words—and to take it across the finish line. When I get to The End, I break through the tape. For the moment I have won the race.

If you would like to read my piece of flash fiction, “The Default Face,” just let me know in the Comments and I’ll send it to you! Or “reply” to me privately. It’s a very short read—just like this Substack!

RANDOM TIP

The easiest way to cut your bangs is to twiddle them together to the middle of your forehead.  Frown (so you won’t cut them too short). Cut at the brow-line in one snip. Now spread them apart. They will be a little choppy and longer at the sides—or: perfect!

Until next time, enjoy your age!