Category Archives: creativity - Page 7

pause

Posted by on March 25, 2010 No comments

I took a timeout last night. This week seems to be full of slowing down and catching my breath. My next project isn’t particularly clear and as a result, I’m meandering a little bit. Or a lot. Masquerading as Kratos and tearing the wings off of some harpies has done me some good in terms of focus. I guess I needed some recreation and a little time unplugged from the things that I think about all of the time. It’s like solving a problem that you’ve been staring at all day on the drive home from work. Disengaging from the item at hand sometimes leads to inspiration and insight.

I second guess the idea of a break often. Is this just resistance creeping in? Or is this some bit of wisdom that I have acquired that lets me know when it’s time to back off for a minute.

things on my desk right now

It’s far more comforting to think that I know something without it being a conscious decision. I fall back on that because I have a physical reaction that’s similar. If I have been working too hard or too stressed out for a prolonged period, my body will take a Saturday or Sunday off. That is to say, I’ll be sidelined by a headache or some other sickness that can only be cured by sleep. Everything shuts down for repairs. Now this is nowhere near working until I collapse or anything extreme like that. I’m not my Granddad. I don’t work in a coal mine and on the railroad on the same day. Give me a break! No, this is the kind of soft shutdown that happens well before something awful could come into play. I’d like to think I’m smart because I listen to it. I rest. I recover. And then everything is OK.

Does that work for everyone? Probably not. We’re crazy in this culture. We prize obsession. And I mean that in the “unwanted thought” way. We admire workaholics and those who simply can’t stop doing what they do. We don’t recognize the sickness of being unable to step back or sit still. That’s sad. And it’s not my way. I’m quite happy with being able to put things on hold for a bit. It provides space and perspective. It also saves good work from overwork.

Looking around at all of the pressure to produce and the 24/7/36(5|6) world we have developed makes me wonder how much better what is being produced would be if we forced ourselves to step away for a period of time. Maybe that’s the best part of having a day job: the forced separation from the work. Maybe that’s seeing the glass as half full. It doesn’t matter as long as I see the limitation as a benefit.

So I’m taking a bit of a timeout. That means plenty of time for instrument building and a little housekeeping.

writing

Posted by on March 24, 2010 No comments

So I was wrong yesterday. I didn’t recording anything. I left the computer alone and did some writing. With a pen a paper, that is. When I was a student I often wrote things out before I picked up an instrument. In fact, I had a very strict rule when composing for the guitar that I would never have the instrument in my hand when writing for it because I didn’t want my fingers pushing me around. There are some shapes that are too comfortable and some great sounds to be had when (my) technique is pushed. When I moved back to the steel string guitar, I left some of that discipline behind because my approach is more improvisational with that instrument. It’s funny that I’d never thought about it that way until last night.

Life needs balance and as such I decided to try it the old way. I’m rusty, but it felt pretty good to force myself into it. The old muscles are there, if a little weak from lack of use. I’ll see how it sounds in my next session. Maybe it will provide the spark that I need right now.

something shiny

Casting about for a new project makes for a moody guy in my case. It’s easy when there’s a plan. But what do you do when inspiration hasn’t dropped in lately? Pressfield and dozens of others tell us to show up. And they’re right. You never know when it will strike and you definitely want to be in the room when it does. I’m also making headway by tying my work to a place. Being sure that I’m physically in my studio ensures that even if I’m not making obvious progress, I’m putting in the time. There’s an association between the work and the place. I don’t think people realize how powerful that can be. We know it when it comes to jobs. When you’re at work you’re “at work.” Why should that be different for other things? It isn’t.

I’m still honoring my commitment to write down five things that I have done each day. Going into my studio always generates a point for that list. Sometimes more than one. This is great for general motivation. My current lack of direction could easily have led to a week off and I have to be honest and credit my wife’s TV show being on last night for putting me into the physical space. That simple pressure (I hate the theme music on her show…and yes, I’ve long accepted the fact that I’m a freak) coupled with my need to have five things for my notebook put me into the room physically. But once I was in there, good things happened despite the absence of a plan.

As it turns out, getting results is pretty easy when you show up. The hard part is finding the mechanisms that ensure you do.

sitting

Posted by on March 23, 2010 No comments

pipes
Most nights when I’m in the studio I have the laptop open and everything gets recorded. I’ve been pretty successful with that approach for some time now and it’s a great way to capture things that I don’t necessarily want to take the time to write down. It also creates a lot of scrap files that I can play with later. It’s a great habit and maybe the only one that I would wholeheartedly recommend to any musician or composer. Just record it all. The flubs and everything. It works.

But sometimes I’m not in that head space. Last night was one of those. Instead, I sat on the floor of my room with a guitar and noodled. The room was lit by a nifty little nightlight. I learned years ago that practicing in the dark is good for the hands and ears. It’s still true today.

I picked and strummed for just under an hour. Long enough to get my fingers moving but not long enough to engage anything serious. Like meditation, I left the room feeling lighter and more focused. When I record tonight I’m sure the work will be better for it.

focus

Posted by on March 22, 2010 No comments

There is something very therapeutic in working on a very specific and detailed task for a period of time. My example is any kind of woodworking that involves carving or a hand plane. I spent some time this weekend working on my new guitar. I made a mistake in the second step of the entire instrument building process and it has taken about three weeks to unscrew it. In any case, I got back to some forward motion on Sunday and noticed how good it felt to sit on the floor of my studio and carve while my son made crazy noises with my synthesizers.

The immediacy of a very sharp blade under pressure in close proximity to one’s flesh conjures a different state of mind. Thoughts wander less and I wonder if extreme focus like this doesn’t actually give us more rest than it burns. Of course since I’m not getting paid to do it, it’s recreation instead of “work” so it must be restful! Right. Anyway, the nuanced tasks are the ones I hate and love the most. And it’s in the middle of them that I feel most like the fairy tale definition of a craftsman. Whether it’s removing small amounts of material from a guitar or practicing a phrase until it flows, the details make it fun.

I’m thinking about details more and more as I get ready to start the next big project. There are a few ideas that are very nuanced that I might finally take the time to explore. With two weeks left in the first quarter of the year and my major quarterly goal taken care of (Thought Music) I feel like I can take some time to really think about what’s next. And that feels great!

something cool

Posted by on March 19, 2010 No comments

So yesterday as I was pimping my new collection I heard about a really cool new project from some friends of mine. They’re using Kickstarter to get funding for a project. I’m intrigued by Kickstarter in that I’ve seen it work for a novel in progress by my buddy Johnny. Anyway, this Kickstarter thing is pretty cool but what’s cooler is that it provides a framework for people to do things like this:

The new face of Canadian Science Fiction!

You have to check out their video and premise. You can hit their Kickstarter page and follow them on Twitter.

I’m not going to lie. I love science fiction and I have a bit of a crush on Canada. Growing up in Ohio and having lived in Minnesota means spending some time with our neighbors to the north and their quirks. But that’s not what I’m talking about here. What I’m talking about is the chance to help a project with a lot of promise get off the ground. I’ve known two of these folks for a long, long time and even collaborated with Duff on a project or two. He provides lyrics for Jason and me on a semi-regular basis and we turn them into tunes. These are good writers with a lot of drive. I’d be quite excited if I could get a the couple of people who read this blog to click on over and at least check out the project. It’s good stuff! Even if you can’t toss ’em a couple of bones you can always retweet their stuff or pass on a link, right?

It’s nice to know people who are taking risks and, better yet, putting some muscle behind their passion. Thus endeth the promotion.

By the by, is there some new law that says that every time I talk about something cool on my blog I have to say that I’m not getting paid for it? Screw that! People know better than to think I get paid for anything on this site.