on creativity and colored ketchup

In 2000, Heinz came out with this product line of colored ketchup called EZ Squirt. Did your mom buy it for you? Mine did, and all of my friend's moms bought it for them, too. They had tons of different and appealing colors that you wouldn't normally associate with ketchup: purple, blue, bright green, teal, pink. It was all the rage. There was something so exciting about eating french fries covered in purple instead of red. In the end, though, the excitement didn't last. After about two weeks, me and all my friends got bored of colored ketchup. After about six years, Heinz discontinued the line completely.

I've been spending a lot of time writing this week and all I keep thinking about is how often I produce colored ketchup. How many times do I write about the same exact themes or recreate the same sort of story or use the same poetic format? And I can get excited about it for maybe a day before I make the heartbreaking realization that all I've done is add a little food coloring and it's the same old thing I always do, or the same old thing I've read before a thousand times. Ughhhhh. It is more frustrating than writer's block in my opinion, the feeling of being unable to think of anything creative or new to add to the world.

So what is the goal, then? NOT to create colored ketchup? Some could argue that Heinz was successful with EZ Squirt. People bought into it. Kids went crazy. I'm sure there were hundreds of temper tantrums over dinner tables where neon-colored tomato products were not endorsed: "Little Timmy, you better eat those fries! I don't care if they don't have teal ketchup on them, the red kind tastes exactly the same! No dessert for you!"

But what I want and what artists & creators & producers everywhere want is to make something new. Something radical. Something that changes things. Something no one has ever seen before. What good is it to produce something that people gobble up in two seconds and then tire of? I want something lasting. Those great works of literature you read in English class? Those endure because they are different and wonderful, like a Beatles song you hear on the radio and that your parents and maybe grandparents heard on the radio, too. They aren't like that Kesha "Tik Tok" number that people can't stop playing for now but will quickly come to find obnoxious.

I shouldn't be frustrated, really. I know close to nothing so far about what it means to be a good writer in any sort of genre or capacity. And maybe it just takes practice and learning. For you, it could be anything. Maybe it's painting or singing or building or whatever it is you science people do. Go be inspired by what works already. Spend time being frustrated that you only seem to recreate different versions of other people's better ideas. Grow to loathe yourself for not having a single unique thought. And then, have joy, because someday you are going to work and work and work and finally find your voice and make something that is so much better than colored ketchup.