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| Its time I said my piece about 'Commercialized' Creativity. Are standard practices really working for YOU, or against YOU? |
Are you a creative? Someone that has a gift for any of the arts, whether it's written, sketched, painted, or performed? Have you ever felt like the cycle of creativity is too capitalized with deadlines, goals, and completion to finally make your big break? Do you ever feel like you measure up to the constant stream of those that post or talk about their success stories, and yet you sit wondering where to start exactly or where you may have gone wrong?
I know how you feel because, I am such a person.
A creative that at times, feels displaced even by my own thoughts.
This journal entry of sorts is a rant about the commercialization of creativity. I write this to say, perhaps, that it's time to really look at how our creation often runs us into the ground, rather than feel an organic resonance and joy (outside of getting $$$).
A chat with my BB
I'd be remiss if I didn't highlight what spawned my thoughts on this.
A few days ago, I was catching up with my BB aka Battle Buddy (a sister in arms - both of us prior military; All Army) and she shared with me a couple of her works which were really good. She finally had time to sit down and just write outside of being a mom, working, and going to school among other things. Like me, she's strapped for time, squeezing in what we can when we can... But she has a social media routine growing. She has her poems designed etc. I'm amazed and I'm like damn I'm slacking.
In my mind, I feel inferior to her efforts not because she's better than me as a writer. But because I haven't figured out the marketing of my stuff. I haven't wired down the 'what', the 'when, and 'how frequently'. So I mentioned that.
BB was like nagh, Creativity can never be rushed. It has to flow.
It's such a profound and ignored fact about bringing something from the mind and soul to the physical space.
With that, let's talk about a few things that are key to my creative process and nuances.
Creativity can't be Rushed
I am a Writer of Speculative Fiction and about my journey of Life (with plenty of interpretations and observations on the side).
For me, I am not pre-programmed like a lot of other writers I've seen on socials or just in general. I do not rush what I am working on. I don't grind to meet a Deadline. I do it for the enjoyment of it. To say to myself I am doing it. I am creating a character or a world that reflects how I think and feel about the world we live in.
Why the hell would I want to rush that when it took me years to grow up and get to this point in my life?
It amazes me, and also makes me cringe when I see people pushing out their work so fast. Novels written edited and published in as little as three to six months is incredible and yet I ask... Why the rush? Why the scramble? Why this pressure to get it out there fast?
I get it, as a writer you have to have your crosshairs on the goal line: to publish and be done. Cool. But, how do you do it so fast? Better yet, why go through the journey so fast?
Because we're shown and told that time is short. We're not getting any younger and we must seize the day everyday, every time. If you aren't writing, you don't care about what you're doing. If you're not grinding everyday to tick off goals you don't care or you're not a writer.
OK, what about everyone else that feels like me, but won't call the grind out on its bullshit?
In the era of commercialized creativity, authors that fantasize and go for the Traditional Publishing route, they are caged into deadlines to get their works out fast. How can our works be rushed to perfection like that, and even still, in some cases, it's not perfection at all?
Why the pressure to conform to what they want (aka what readers want) to consume? And then, after you rush to get it done, you still have to wait a year or two tops before your work makes it to the top of the list to finally publish... And for the machine to get their cut? (Sure they may pay you up front, but it'll take a fortnight to get you royalties).
Is that why you write?
Racing against the clock, for me, is a fallacy that I don't want to follow. So, it looks like, perhaps, traditional publishing is off the table for me...
Which leaves self-publishing... which is costly... That's a whole other discussion in itself, for a guy on someone else's payroll that has four other mouths to feed in his household.
When I feel rushed, I don't feel the pulse of what it is I want to write.
Perhaps it's the silent rebel in me saying "kiss my ass. I want to do it in my own way, in my own time. Stop putting a time on my greatness!" When there's a time hack to meet, I lose that creative pulse to just let it rock the way it wants to. It seems to suck the life out of it, and for me, THAT is everything.
I'm a believer in the precious art of the journey itself. The spark of it. The thrill of the moment I get to create, no matter how swift those sessions may be, which leads to my next point.
Creativity should not be measured. (Word Counts are Dead to Me)
Yeah I said it.
There's a lot of writers that follow the law of word count per session, per day, etc to track their writing goals. If that works for them, awesome.
But personally, word counts don't measure well with me. It doesn't feel like an organic thing to do and then try to figure out why word counts spike or drop.
The days you don't meet your word count, then what? You have to squeeze in more over the next few sessions to meet your (or the machine's) deadlines?
To that I ask, why are we trying to box in creativity? Why are we in a practice where we try to conform it and measure it? Is that for ego sake? Or does that really push us to create our best works?
Personally, work counts don't work. Time hacks don't work because I am a restless soul when it comes to creating or editing. One day I may sit for 10 minutes to write a few things down. Sometimes it's a half hour. Other times it could be 5 minutes here, an hour there. Maybe that's my variation of write sprinting, but even so, I wrote until I feel the moment is passed, rather than try to measure my progress with time, page count, or word count.
For me, the less pressure I feed into the progress or the session itself, the better. I don't want to dread what may be an already dreadful experience (ahem... Revisions and edits.)
Creativity can't be forced out. It must flow.
I truly believe creativity is a flow state kind of thing. You can't rush it, shouldn't be stressing yourself with trying to control it with metrics and measurements or time. It should come naturally, like a breeze outside.
Can we force weather to change? No.
Can we force people to love us or change? As much as we think we can do any and everything, the answer is still NO.
So why do we think or feel we can control the Creative flow? Sure we want to accomplish something to justify our creative spark, our purpose, and our existence. But really, when we force ourselves to write, are we truly writing our absolute best? For me, that answer is honestly, no. Sometimes I get the spontaneous kick and I go on a creating spree until I feel I'm done. Other times I'll wake up early saying yeah I'm going to write this morning, and only three sentences are edited or written.
Some of us (myself included) hold ourselves accountable in crappy ways and bash ourselves for not doing a good enough job.
There's days where I will tell myself that I'm not like my peers or competition. I don't write long enough, I don't do what the gurus tell me and stick to a routine...
Set up a nice cozy space....
Do a morning ritual...
Say affirmations (I do a few of these for my own spiritual ritual in the mornings)
And yet... The powder and sprinkle stuff just doesn't really resonate with my writing. It's bad enough I feel less than when I see other authors hanging up their works in progress and stuff or talk about their swear-bys when it comes to writing, realizing they have their shit together wired tight and their approach is so much more colorful than mine.
Yes, I internalize it all. But their processes and wins are not mine. I cannot force myself to be like them, because I am not like them. I am not them. I do not write like them. I may want to, but I don't need to be or do it like them...
And neither should you feel that way.
I know there's a few of you that feel how the same way about your creative process.
Overwhelmed by so many requirements and personalities and rules, and all you want to really do is Write.. Or Draw.. Or Sing... Or make messes... Or try to take over the World (Brain's voice from Animaniacs, IYKYK) with your own unique talents and abilities.
Truth is, if you are going to follow any rules, stick with the ones YOU craft for yourself, or ones that truly resonate with you. The ones that make you feel that spark to give it a shot and it grows on you.
But don't stress yourself with controlling (or even managing) the process, or falling outside of metrics.
Creativity is NOT that.
Creativity is a journey, much like our lives...
The journey to turn the energy of an idea into something that is tangible by way of our own excitement and rhythm doing the thing!
And on that note, after writing and editing this thing, its time I bid you adieu until the next Unskrypted Truth from the Mind of Max.
Let me know in the comments what are some creative trends or rules that don't resonate with you. I'd love to hear from you!
#Unskrypted #InkInAction #Creativity #WritingJourney #ImpostorSyndrome
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