Like anyone else who writes, creates or otherwise engages in the beauteous wonder that is art, I have always had a fascination with learning about how others go about doing so. Specifically, understanding what their individual creative process looks like and what, if any, structure they employ as part of it.
As a relatively new blog writer, I was keenly interested in the creative habits of other writers. To this end, I started to invest a bit of time taking a closer look at some of my favorites to examine both what, precisely, they do and if there happened to be any apparent similarities that might help inform and improve my own.
ART & CREATIVITY AS A JOB
After a modicum of research on only four esteemed authors, it became abundantly clear that there was, indeed, a parallel thread that ran through each of their respective creative processes: They treated their art and its creation as a job.
By this, I mean that they all use an extremely disciplined, workmanlike approach to art and creativity. While there were slight nuances, the core of the artistic procedure was remarkably the same. Each of them awoke in the morning, departed to a separate location from their home, and wrote for a minimum period of time, after which they left the location, returned and got on with the usual affairs of living one’s life. The amount of time of the ‘work day’ varied from David Sedaris’ 2 hours to Nick Cave’s 8+ hours, but the ethic was the same and was repeated each and every day (notwithstanding recording, touring & other ‘out of office’ commitments, which, themselves, constitute a far more demanding, time-intensive ‘workday(s).’
Of course, none of this was particularly revelatory or surprising as it’s common knowledge that daily practice and discipline, generally result in improved, skill, output and quality. However, I have never employed such a professional approach in creating any of my own art, largely due to the fact that I was working 60+ hours a week in my career – I already had a demanding job, so I just created whenever and wherever I could.
‘PUTTERING AROUND’
That, of course, is no longer the case. Regular readers are aware that last year was very challenging, but despite it all, I had both externally & internally committed myself to all manner of creative endeavors including; curating the music & video of my former band for a deluxe release by our record label (that also includes a large-format retrospective photography book); starting a new music project that requires writing new material (and now has expanded into forming a live band), and, of course, continuing to write regularly for Fates On Fire. I was also hoping to get in some creative writing and who knows what other opportunities might arise?
With the exception of this blog, the other projects have, charitably stated, languished. I wrote about some of the reasons for the lack of progress before, but there are others such as moving into our new home and just engaging in other passions such as hiking, fishing, board gaming and exploring our new area. Whatever – No results is just that, no results.
My pal Michelle over at the superb SavvyHistory posted a wonderful article a few weeks ago focused on creative business mistakes. In it, she had a quote that particularly resonated with me concerning my lack of creative progress. It read:
“Know when you’re puttering around. Know when it’s go-time” – Michelle VanCura
Immediately after reading that, it became abundantly clear. As it pertains to me, I used a slightly more acerbic & crass verb, but “puttering around” is exactly what I’ve been doing. It simply needed to stop and, right then, somewhere deep within the recesses of my mind, the mental switch was officially flipped to “Go-Time.” and the ‘Working Muse Project” was born.
WHAT IS THE WORKING MUSE PROJECT?
The project itself is extremely straight forward in terms of concept. For a period of 30 consecutive days, I will treat my artistic pursuit as a job and work, a minimum, of 3 hours per day. I will do so alone, undistracted each morning in my studio that is entirely detached from my home.
The project goals are:
- Curate all audio, video, photographic and other elements required for the release and submit them to the label
- Produce, at least, 30 pages of original fiction
- Enroll in and begin a high-quality online creative writing course
- Write 4 new, original songs & finalize the arrangements on 2 in-process cover songs
- Write 3 new Fates On Fire articles
- Keep a daily journal of progress, insights, learnings, etc.
As I taught others in my career, these are SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant & time-bound). Success is judged entirely on results, not activity. I started the next day. Boom!
PROGRESS THUS FAR
What follows are select excerpts from my daily journal after 10 days of the project.
DAY 1:
Inauspicious portents, otherwise known as an abject fail. Immediately emerging from the shower, I see a text asking me to ‘help with an RV.’ 4 hours later, my clothes (and me) are soggy with sweat, gasoline, urine and feces. Broken fuel lines, overflowing septics, & rasslin’ with propane tanks is how the morning was spent.
Mid-afternoon, a sodden, sunburned, heat-stroked mess, I went to the studio. I typed this, tuned my bass and thought really good and hard about restringing my guitar before I bailed out. Throughout it all, I kept thinking to myself, does Neil Gaiman’s wife ever say, ‘I know you’re off to create your next masterpiece, but before you head out, can you empty the RV’s shitter?’
If this is Day 1, I’m fucking sunk…
DAY 2:
Slightly better in that I was actually able to get 3 hours of ‘creative productivity’ in, which I’ve forgotten is not always as glamorous as one might believe. I dug out the old, dust-laden hard drive and monitor which has pretty much all the music, video and photo files since I never got them on a cloud before leaving. Wow! There’s over 42 hours of music, 3000+ photos, and 11 hours of video. This is going to be a much more involved project than I thought.
With that lesson in my head, I spent a little time to clean up my laptop and upload all my saved files that hadn’t been done so to my GoogleDrive. Then spent the majority of the time tweaking and editing a previously drafted article as well as nailing down and uploading the images.
DAY 4:
On a super positive note, I was finally able to cajole (read: guilt) all band members into recording a new song for our upcoming release last night after over month of maneuvering. We’re now all living in different states, so it’ll be remote, but really excited about that. However, it’s now officially another creative commitment. Thankfully, we did agree we wouldn’t start on this until October.
DAY 6:
Four days so far of audio slogging in the morning. A trip down memory lane for sure though.
Bonus evening activity! Started and completed a rough draft of a Fates on Fire article. The muse struck (perhaps awoken by the morning’s aural activity?) and I got working while inspired. Tried to parlay this with writing music, but she seems to have abandoned me again once I picked up the guitar.
DAY 8:
Closing in on finalizing the audio.. It’s been more than a bit tough. Lots of re-discovered gems we never released for whatever reason. Easily enough for a strong album. In any event, it’s getting supremely difficult trying to do this in huge 3-4 hour chunks of time since listening to slightly different re-mixes of one song makes it all ‘samey’ and my ears get fried. At least, I’ve got some great live versions of songs we never recorded for the set. Anyway, the end is neigh and the results exceed what I’d hoped for.
DAY 10:
Kapow! All audio tracks identified and formally submitted with detailed production/engineering notes. Now it’s on to video which should be much, much easier as it’s essentially all commercially available material and one full live show. Assembling the raw, archive material is, likely, just one day (fingers crossed). And then come the photos…
STAY TUNED FOR PART TWO!
There are still 20 more days to go in the exciting ‘Working Muse Project,’ so stay tuned to see how things, ultimately, turn out and what, if anything, is learned as a part of the experiment!
YOUR FEEDBACK IS NEEDED!
Clearly, by applying discipline, I am getting results as suggested by the above. For those readers who create (or even aspire to), I’d love to hear your thoughts on your creative process. Is it structured? How do you handle distractions that remove you from ‘the zone?’ And any suggestions are, of course, very welcome!
With guilt and shame in my heart I will never forget the day you were tasked with helping your addled cousin out by emptying the shitter and trouble-shooting the genny. On your first official Muse day no less. Beyond that I’m damn impressed with your fortitude to tuck into this project (with SMART goals no less) and churn out some great results. Your work ethic has always been admirable, but to harness your puttering and deliver the results you gained in the first 10 days? is beyond impressive.
Well hey there and thanks for stopping by! No worries on the RV work. It’s unexpected adventures like that which make for the best stories (and writing content). A day well remembered!
Thanks for the kind words on the work ethic. I’m hardwired that way I guess. Overall, the project has been simultaneously fun, productive, and very challenging. The results article is coming next week, so be sure to take a gander and learned what really happened.
As a writer now and former comedian/ improviser/ singer/ pianist, I balance puttering around and structure. I do have a preferred day to write and tend to stick to that BUT I also give myself a lot of time for puttering around b/c I get ideas that way.
Another way I keep going is that I start a post and leave it unfinished so that I have something to go back to that isn’t a blank page. Half-starting works really well for me.
Hi Caroline and thanks for the comment and sharing your approach. It’s nice you can leverage the puttering whereas for me puttering = not completing. With the music project, it needed to get done as it was a binding deal that has economic impact for others aside from me and the monkey just needed off me. However, I’ve found that the structured time really allows me to get in the ‘zone’ to create, even if it’s just ‘puttering’ ideas for songs, short stories, etc. (structured puttering?). In any event, this seems to be working for me so far!
Great to see you creating bud.
As for me, my creativity process is all over the place.
For my blog it has been like a job. Because if I didn’t stick to my schedule with working the 60+ hour weeks I wouldn’t write. Normally, I’d like more time to tinker, perfect and be more creative, but for this experiment it has been fun and educational to do it this way and just see what happens.
When I was in bands, then the music part was more of a job, because you have to practice to get good and hone your craft. But when I was making music solo, it would usually come in spurts rather than a systemic schedule. I’ve found it hard for both music and writing to accomplish that much when I don’t feel creative. But then your stuck in that paradox, what happens if I never feel creative? So like everything in life, it depends…
Yeah, with your publishing schedule, you have to schedule that shit in, particularly with the FT exec gig.
I agree on music, particularly with a band, there needs to be a set schedule with an agreed upon agenda to get anything of quality done. However, like you say writing individually comes for me only when I’m feeling inspired. What I’m learning for me is simply carving out the dedicated time in the day gives undistracted space in which I can be inspired.
well done getting off the pot. from what i’ve seen from real artists it ain’t all glamour in the creative process. a full time artist friend in new orleans has a studio set-up like yours apart from the main house and has a huge schedule hung on the wall. she needs time for research, marketing, digitizing images and some painting. i remember in there was an hour or two for lunch and a bike ride mid-day. if those boring elements don’t get done nobody else is going to do them and she needs them to pay the mortgage and put food on the table.
maybe gaiman’s wife would ask form help with the crapper. i liked her work with dresden dolls but haven’t heard the solo stuff. keep up the work. i hope it remains enjoyable.
Yeah, so far I think your NOLA friend has the right approach (at least one that seems to be working well for me anyway). And there’s the balance of writing a great article or story or a killer bassline and the drudgery of formatting it in WP or programming a complementary drum sequence – all part of the creative process.
Ms Fate told me Neil and Amanda are separated now, so she’d totally make him empty the shitter nowadays is my guess. D-Dolls were great, solo stuff not so much btw.