Creative Process

I walked to the Venice Grind today for a cup of coffee, today. Actually, I walked to the post office to mail something first. I also found out that there is a library and a great second hand store near my home. Oh, and a coffee shop, so I sat down and sipped my double latte with great enjoyment and watched the people going by, my pen poised above my workbook open to my latest song.

There is a balance between alone time and time with people when you are a creative soul. There can absolutely be too much or too little of either. So, sometimes in the morning when I need to get some work done, first I pick up my body and walk it out the door, and usually end up at a coffee shop to sit with my thoughts and let life bustle around me. Just being near all of that energy and maybe finding a little interaction with the barista or the person at the next table can sustain me for the rest of the work day. Other humans are good! Life is good! And so was the coffee…

Resistance is futile

Yes, the borg will come and take your individual personality from you and make you part of their collective if you let them. I’ve been struggling with the idea of conforming to a regular schedule of creativity. Shoving my creative time into a slot on the calendar.

2:00PM-4:00PM: Creativity

I’ve always resisted the idea of taking creativity and scheduling it, but I find when I actually do just that, I am somehow more free to be creative. Resistance is more complicated than futility. Ironically when I do schedule creative time during my work day I often have more creative impulse and I can find myself working into the night after my calendar has told me I can quit. Other times an hour feels like pulling teeth out of the back of my hand, and I am so grateful for the clock to strike the quitting hour. Still, something got accomplished in that hour or two with my butt in the chair. I don’t know the answer, but I do know that not being creative is not an option. Resistance to my own creative impulse is futile. So, I keep putting it on my calendar and I keep sitting down at the piano or the computer and writing…

“Assimilate this!”  -Worf, Star Trek: First Contact