Attack the Block

[robin_riopelle]

Just read a list of really wonderful pieces of advice for getting out of creative ruts, courtesy of fastcodesign. Some of the pieces contradict the other ("get lots of sleep" vs. "drink coffee before bed"), but hey, if you're in the middle of a creative block (writing, designing, illustrating), you're willing to try anything.

My personal favourite

Comments

[amberdreams]

Thanks for this - mmm when I win the lottery I don't play, I will definitely try the weekend away trick! IN the meantime, I find stepping away from the laptop and doing something like going to the gym, or walking in the park or similar can sometimes jog something loose in my brain.

[robin_riopelle]

I get so much "done" when I'm walking the dog. It really helps clear the brain. I get home, do my pilates stuff, then get down to it. Most days. Sometimes, 'get down to it' means paid freelance work, and then the writing follows. What I hate is that the writing always seems to take the backseat.

[amberdreams]

Pliates is really good, it's the only thing I have kept up over the years - yoga, aerobics, step, all fads from yesterday - but the pilates really seems to work.

[robin_riopelle]

It's like magic, really. All about the core.

[embroiderama]

Thanks for that link, I like it a lot.

The second reason creative people get stuck is that, while they have the idea, executing the idea takes a lot of work, and not all of that work is fun, and basically you don’t want to do the work, because having the idea in the first place was the fun part. If you’re balking at the work, you need to stop playing around, sit down, shut up, go off-line, focus single-mindedly on executing the work, and make it real. In either case, if you try to solve one problem when you’re really having the other, you’re going to waste a lot of time.

Oh man, that's me all over. "I love my idea, but it's so cooooooomplicated." I should just suck it up and focus on dealing with that kind of complication.

[robin_riopelle]

yeah, this one resonated for me too. The funny thing is, as soon as I start work I've been avoiding, it almost always seems to go easily and I'm left thinking "why didn't I just do this earlier?"

[tabaqui]

Just sitting down and writing. No matter how utterly horrible, just *forcing* myself to write, write, write. Eventually - usually within the hour - i hit a good spot and get my stride and actually put out good stuff and can even finish things.

But i just have to put words to paper, no matter if i'll delete them all later.

[robin_riopelle]

I tell myself that. It's worked for me once or twice. It helps that I'm not a perfectionist. I know writers who are and they hit blocks much more frequently than I do.

[caffienekitty]

I'll let you know when I find it.

Actually, for me the main problem is focus and time. When I have one, I don't have the other. :-P

[robin_riopelle]

Ooooh, it's like time and money. You'll sometimes have one, and not the other. I totally agree with your icon. It's friggin' hard work, that writing stuff.

[caffienekitty]

Hm. With time and money I never seem to have either, and with time and focus, I rarely seem to have focus, but occasionally have time. There's some kind of mathematical relation there somehow.