Create, Work

Some people who don't consider themselves "creative" continually claim that they just can't do it, that they don't have the ability, that they don't have the inspiration. Well, not to burst your romantic bubble but so much of the "creative" process is simply sweaty, grinding work. After writing up an album's worth of songs, the actual "creation" of them (that is, the manifestation of them into the album) is sheer hours. Sure there is a lot of art involved, but it's not the purely inspired process (at least not for me) that some people believe it to be. In reality, creating is not just a spontaneous discharge of divine mana interjecting itself into the unconsciousness between hiccups of lucidity. Creating requires significant amounts of toiling, deliberateness, and patience.

Having known and worked with artists of all kinds, I would submit that the most "creative" tend to be those who are willing to buckle down, on a regular basis, and put the work in. Some of that time results in output, while some of it doesn't - but that shouldn't diminish its value - what appears to be "lost" time is actually the cost of doing business, so to speak. As Edison and others would know, it took many mistakes to get it right. That time "lost" is also quite productive in another, more subtle, way: Like most things, an artist's quality of work is usually a function of how much of it they do. The more they work, the better their output becomes. I notice that those who wait for inspiration tend to not to finish much and, as a result, potentially stunt their own creative growth.

Having said all that, the artist's mind is a complicated one. Often, taking a long hiatus from work can actually produce unprecedented results when the artist returns to it. Regardless, nothing good comes easy. Art is not an exception to that rule. In fact, the work that creation requires makes the the act of doing it that much more worth it, regardless of the end result.

Choosing

At some point, choosing the right thing becomes less about knowing what you want and more about knowing what you're willing to give up.