Just joined us? Go HERE for Part 1.
MOVE BEYOND THE INSPIRATION
Nothing feels as good as sitting down for a drink with your muse and letting yourself drift away, talking shit, and planning all those things you’re gonna do someday.
Nothing except ACTUALLY doing those things.
It’s easy enough to get lost in the music, the images, those brilliant words in those books you love or to dream of characters you see in your favourite movies. Wishing that they would come to you.
But they won’t.
Not if you don’t act upon them.
The blank page is a door to be opened. Open it!
If you’re using Inspiration, or the ‘I don’t have any’, excuse to not get any work done then all it is a distraction.
And it’s time to move on.
PLAY / MOVEMENT
Remember as a child when you played in the schoolyard you just made it up as you went along? No predetermined plot, just freestyling and improvisation? The playground was your stage.
Treat what you do like play, it’s your playground, get up and get moving. It’s when you stop that your imagination just switches off and goes into shutdown mode.
It wants you to ‘don that cape’ and make that ‘bed sheet fort’. So why deny it?
The act of using you hand even, acts like a starter motor, gets the mind cranking. Even when you have lost your train of thought, or have no place to start, just get your hand moving, scribbling, drawing, or even just writing out the alphabet.
It’s that the movement of your hand that has a direct connection with your mind and your imagination.
As long as you are moving things will keep flowing.
Just mix it up. Just keep rolling.
You ever wonder why the Rolling Stones are still kicking on? Yea, it’s all in their name. Keep rolling and you shall gather no moss. (you may however look a little worse for wear).
So tuck that chin into your chest, wrap your arms around your knees and just get rollin’.
ENJOY THE IMPERFECTIONS
Maybe it’s just me (I highly doubt it, and by highly I mean I really hope not) but do you ever read over your high school diary and think…what the hell?
So angsty, so full of so called teenage wisdom and drama. So, lame?
Pretty good for a laugh right? If nothing else you’ve created memories. Something to look back on and reminisce about. Or cringe over.
Ok then, so what if you put down on the page is ridiculous. I mean, some days you will knock it out of the ballpark and other days you will recoil in horror. Light that baby up and burn it so it will never ever be found.
(Don’t really do that!)
These are your stepping stones. Your journal is a place to expose or dispose of everything your mind holds (which is a good thing!). Let it flow out. The good must come with the bad.
You’ve heard the saying better out than in right. Yeah, well that!
POSSIBILITIES
Can you imagine being given ALL the possibilities in the world. Handed to you. Placed in front of you.
Can you imagine if that piece of paper was the key. And you could create EVERYTHING you ever dreamed about onto it.
Yes it’s daunting thinking about this. For example, if you could write down how you wanted your life to be, what would you begin with?
Does this make you freeze even more? Or does this open everything up for you?
Can you imagine if it doesn’t workout you can just screw up that piece of paper and throw it away? Or if that secret revealed upon it’s pages is too dangerous to keep, you could burn it?
Do you think that you would be able to just, you know, start?
Take each paper as a new beginning. A new start. But don’t hold on to the outcomes. Let it be full of possibilities. Understand that what you may create something that sucks, but also allow for the possibility that what you put down could be your greatest work ever.
TACTICS
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THE THING ABOUT TIME
I’m not a morning person until I have had my double shot long black with a splash of milk, then it’s game on. I go into caffeine induced creative frenzy mode. That wears off mid afternoon but by the time darkness falls I am at it again (too many times that inspiration comes right before I am about to sleep).
You can make Time your ‘friend’ by figuring out when YOU are at your most creative. Then grab that ‘friend’ by the throat, I mean arm, and spend some time just chatting away.
Put away that time, pretend you’re on a speed date. Give him all your focus, all your attention.
He may get a little gnarky when you don’t.
If your attention span is short, even 10 minutes, give it all you got for that amount of time. Minimise distractions. Fluffy ear muffs work well, er, apparently.
Facing that page with only a short amount of time you get that adrenaline kick in and start to go.
Ok have I said time enough times now? Alright, calling time out on that.
COMMIT TO CONSISTENCY
Put a ring on that baby and get her to commit. Just let her know you love her everyday. Even those small moments make a big difference. A page a day will equal 365 in a year.
Even if you only put aside 10 minutes every morning (or your chosen time of day/night), even if you do nothing more than that, do it.
People say that when you get married you should still date your partner. Give them that special time. Do it every day. Don’t lose that spark.
Same goes for being creative. Commit to it. You will often find that once you get started you will want to keep going. Have a plan. Have something you will do and make that promise to yourself.
Remember it doesn’t have to be any good it just needs to get done. (The creative part not marriage).
A RITUAL
OK so this is a ritual not a ritual killing so you can put that dagger down now and no we will not be sacrificing any virgins today (or tomorrow in fact). It’s time to find yourself a space to create.
A place where you can pick up that pen and face that giant monster head on.
(Anyone else picturing the paper turning into some origami killer ready to devour you or at least your hand? No? Never mind. Carry on)
If you still find yourself so frozen you don’t know where to begin, have a Starter Plan.
A ritual.
Keep it simple. Clear your space. Have your tools ready. Play a little game (see below)
AN UNCONVENTIONAL METHOD FOR BEGINNING
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MAKE A GAME OF IT
On some level you should be having fun. Doesn’t matter what you’re doing. You chose your ‘profession’ because you love it right?
(If not then I guess you better ask yourself why you are doing what you’re doing).
Even those less thrilling things you HAVE to do can be part of a game.
Remember you don’t have to go straight in for the kill. Maybe you just need to write out some other stuff first. Or draw a picture, doodle, get your hand moving, just see what comes out.
Warm up. You do this before you exercise right? Your brain is no different If what you’re doing feels like work it will rebel. It wants to have fun. So do those things first.
As long as you start you’re making progress.
SO, LET’S PLAY A GAME (SERIOUSLY)
House
Car
Party
Dog
Pick one. Create a list. 1 – 10 and write a list of 10 memories you can recall, for the word you choose.
3 mins max.
TIP: The trick here is that you need to use your full 3 minutes. It might be that you get to 10 with a minute to go. If this is the case then have a spare piece of paper handy to scribble on, doodle, write the alphabet. Whatever. Just keep that hand of yours moving.
You have 7 minute. Right now.
7 minutes to tell me a story about one of the topics from the list. Just write. for the entire 7mins no more, no less. No stopping. If you lose your train of thought just keep that hand moving. Don’t read back over. You don’t have time. If it’s nonsense just run with it. Once that buzzer goes then it’s all over.
And then.
5 min Draw *
Now set timer and draw it for 5 minutes. Spend time on it, the different parts, the details.
Now do that for 3 mins. Same image.
Then 1 min. 30 secs and finally 10 seconds.
AND DON’T GIVE UP. EVER
If you’re thinking that the blank page is somehow a metaphor for your life and that everything you put onto it will affect it, then you’re in some serious trouble.
Instead, look at it as a test ground, the playground, for you to get in and start fooling around, having fun and seeing how things go.
Which incidentally should be how your life is anyway.
The best advice I can give you is to just start. Get that hand moving. Stop over thinking it and cut yourself some slack. It doesn’t need to be perfect, that’s what editing and erasers are for. Do overs. Oh and once you begin, don’t stop.
So begin. Don’t stop.
And enjoy the ride.