Deconstructing the Artist

If You Can’t Keep Your Own Goals…

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I have a Sunday tradition. Every Sunday, around mid-afternoon or so, I sit down with my paper planner and I sketch out my week. All the appointments I scheduled and forgot, all the shifts from my two jobs, all the extras I took on months ago and also forgot.

This week when I sat down to write it all out, I found my book draft is supposed to be done by this Sunday, the 6th. A few months ago I laid out my goals over the next year, milestones for how I would finish not just this draft but all the editing, more editing, and still more editing. I gave myself 10 weeks to write the rest of the draft. 10 weeks seemed like forever to me. At the rate I’m going, I thought to myself, I’ll be done in 5.

Then work happened and vacations and family events and summer. And then I was down from 10 weeks to 1. There was no way I could have it done in time. Not with my schedule.Absolutely no way!

Then I thought, if I can’t keep my own goals what was the point of making them? What good am I when I can’t keep a promise to myself?

It came out harsh but the idea, the nugget of inspiration if you will, was good. If I am going to have this book done by next spring, it had to start with keeping my first goal to myself. So I re-arranged some stuff and decided the dishes in the sink could wait a bit more. I wrote Tuesday evening when I got out of work and this morning before I left. I have one scene left to write Sunday. One scene. A couple thousand words at most. The goal is so close I can smell the printer ink.

A Shout-Out and An Update Walk Into A Bar

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And I have no punchline to that joke. Oh well.

The shout-out goes to my stalwart reader and #1 fan (according to her, though I’m apt to agree) Anna! She reminded me today that I haven’t blogged in a while and she missed my posts. Aw, thanks Anna!

Now for the update.

Work on the book has been going well for two days now! My intense July writing schedule fizzled out around the time I went camping for a week and didn’t write for a week. Then I spent another two weeks catching up with all that life stuff that piles up when you go on vacation. Now I’m finally back on schedule and ready to finish this draft!

I am about writing the way other people are about exercise. If I haven’t written in a while, I feel stressed, anxious, depressed, and annoyed. I get really worked up about where my life is heading and how each day is nothing but meaningless monotony. When I do write, even on the days where the writing is bad or hard or excruciatingly hard, I feel better. I feel energized. I feel like, whatever else happens in the day, I can handle it because I’ve written. That, above all else, is why I write.

Unstopping the Block

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As of this Sunday, I will have completed my second time through The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. Once again I feel my creative blocks falling away. I believe it is much easier to write than to not write. I have realized the amount of time and energy I put into not writing becomes productive and fulfilling when I use it to write.

It sounds simple when I write it out but aren’t the simplest ideas often the most profound? Mind blown.

If you want to know more about The Artist’s Way, here’s the link to Julia Cameron’s website: http://juliacameronlive.com

Must All Artists Be Mad?

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Let’s begin deconstructing the stigmas and stereotypes about artists. Here’s one – not all artists write all night. Many sleep instead.

Nor are most people able to write a novel while on their lunch break at their 9-5 job. In fact, most artists are better off working hours that are not 9-5.

To back me up I direct your attention to the article below, “Why Creative People Shouldn’t Work 9 to 5”

http://www.mnn.com/money/green-workplace/blogs/why-creative-people-shouldnt-work-9-to-5

*Please note, I do not agree with this article’s use of the term ‘creative people’. I firmly believe that everyone is creative. This article, however, is talking about the artist, a specific kind of creative person.*