Summer isn’t really a great time for me in terms of creativity. There’s too much daylight and way too much heat. I don’t function well. This is of course exacerbated in Texas. It’s really hot down here for a long stretch. The bad stuff is here and I will have to tough it out for a while. It makes me tired.
That said, a box of stuff is on its way to my house so I can continue on instrument 003. I can’t exactly shut my life down just because I’m too hot to make sense. I got back into the studio and did some recording. In fact, I have put down two new tunes this week. I’m also ramping up the latest album project and trying to get all of the necessary ducks in a row for that. So things are moving even if the blog is slow.
I know that I push The War of Art by Mr. Pressfield a lot. But the fact is, it really saved me last summer. (I make the situation of toughing it out in the A/C sound so dire, don’t I? Well, it feels that way.) Pressfield makes the point that if you show up, good things happen. He’s right. Every time I go into the studio I record /something/. Any time I sit down with some wood and tools I make /something/. Even if the end product of that session isn’t great, there is more produced than zero. The experience of doing the work adds to that weird 10,000 hours that it takes to achieve some level of mastery. Experience is never a waste though it might be tougher to wrap one’s head around.
What is most important to realize in the times when the work is tough to get into is that the only lost time is the time we don’t spend doing something. I love the fact that my wife and I have given up the passive life. The TV is almost never on. She works hard sewing garments (I have some fantastic shirts as proof). She is using her mind. Being creative. I work on my guitars in the same room where she sews. Our son plays in that room the whole time. He helps a lot. I’m hoping desperately that he’s being imprinted. I want him to see that making things matters. Showing up counts. Someday he will find the thing that ignites his passions and I want to have provided him with a solid example of how to live a life where the things that are important to us are front and center.
A lot rides on those nights in the studio and the hot weekend afternoons in the garage. So that’s where I am. I’m not batting 1000, but I’m swinging.
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