Making the Time to Be Creative

Oh, my poor neglected blog. Did I really go through all of November without a single post? Le sigh.

Which brings me to today's topic: Finding the time to write.

Busy, Busy, Busy

The older I get, the busier I get, it seems.

Actually, it's not even about being busier. It's about having more things in my life that use up all of my brain power. There's my full-time job. Then there's family and friends, with the face time and correspondence that those require. There's my husband, who I don't spend nearly as much time with as I'd like to. Then there's my two-year-old -- enough said. Then there's paying a whole family's bills and keeping on top of the zillion and one of life's logistical considerations.

After all that, most nights I'm too drained to do anything but read Facebook posts, play inane computer games, or scramble to get everything ready for the next work day followed by collapsing into bed.

The Role of Self-Discipline

At one point in my life, I was a single and carefree person in my mid-20s. I worked full-time, but other than that, my energy was my own, for the most part. And yet I still wasn't doing as much creative writing as I would have liked.

I theorized that maybe it was my job (editorial manager and wearer of 10 different hats at a small company) draining my creative energy. At one point, while between jobs, I accepted a position as an executive assistant. I thought maybe doing something fairly un-creative for a living would free up my creative energy so that I'd be more inspired to write during my time off.

The new job didn't make any difference. I would still come home in the evenings and do what I had been doing: going out with friends, or playing games, or calling people on the phone, or just reading books.

That's when I realized what the real issue was. I wasn't making the time for my creative endeavors. I wasn't being disciplined about it at all. I was just waiting around for inspiration to strike. In retrospect, I suppose I was hoping two things: (1) that inspiration would strike, and (2) that the strike would coincide with a period of time that my mind was not otherwise occupied with something else, so I'd have nothing stopping me from running to the computer and typing it all out.

It took me a long time to realize that kind of coincidence almost never happens. If I want to write, I will have to be disciplined and make myself sit down and write, even if I'm not in the mood.

MAKE the Time... Because It Doesn't Make Itself

The more I read about successful people, the more I realize what most of them have in common. Not good looks, or lots of money, or sheer dumb luck, but the fact that they worked their asses off toward a goal. Whatever it was they wanted, they were deliberate about doing whatever it took to get it.

Persistence is highly underrated. It sounds so dull: just keep chugging along. But I think it's actually the key to everything.

Maybe it's my vocabulary holding me back here. Creativity and discipline sound like such polar opposites, don't they? One term brings to mind a freebird bohemian who lives with other artists and devotes herself to her craft any time of the day or night. The other term calls up soldiers, dressed in identical uniforms, obeying commands given by someone else, eating and sleeping and breathing on a strict schedule. They almost sound mutually exclusive.

Yet, if your mental energy is as occupied as mine is, but you have a strong desire to do creative work, discipline is vital, if only to produce the basic tool required for creative work: free time. And that's what I have been lacking. I haven't made the time.

I got together with a friend for lunch a couple of weeks ago. Like me, she loves to write. But her life is filled to the brim with a more-than-full-time job, family, and an unemployed live-in boyfriend who demands a lot of her energy. While we were chatting, we realized that we have the same problem. When free time lands in our laps, it's such a relief that we can't resist using that time to unplug and just relax. But if we are going to write more, we have to set aside some time. And that's a completely mental exercise. It's not going to happen on its own.

We decided the two of us should get together once a week and sit at a bookstore (or coffee house, or whatever - the location doesn't matter) and do nothing but write. Having a date with the other person might keep us accountable so that we don't slack off and fill up that time with Angry Birds instead. We have yet to schedule our first such meeting. I hope we do. No, wait -- hoping it will happen is what got me here in the first place. I need to just do it. Pick a time and place and do it, with no excuses.