We’ve tried this. (Well, LB’s tried it.) And it works!
by Herbert LuiSo making songs now that I know aren’t going to be heard by anybody else, it is an interesting thing. Because I think you have to do that now as an artist. I really do.
—Donald Glover, Grantland interview
…Something for all writers to remember:
When you attempt to envision a writer, I imagine many of you see a quirky recluse, hunched over a desk in some cabin, crumpled paper strewn about as they obsessively work on the next great American novel.
But writing is so much more. Prose is thought put to page, which makes all of us writers—even if we don’t have the chops to tangle with Faulkner. In most cases, writing is most useful as a tool for thinking, expression, and creativity; cabin-dwelling novelists be damned.
All creatives get stuck once in awhile (or a lot, or just about anywhere in between). Time now to address this frustrating and often painful situation:
e first step (always the hardest, right?) in solving a problem is recognizing you have one.
We’re all familiar with the feeling of grappling with a head-scratcher for longer than we’d like. It can take a while to connect the time we’ve lost staring at the screen with the fact that we’re stuck on something and it’s time to try a new approach. Stuckedness isn’t always immediately apparent, and we arrive at the realization in different ways.
“Whatever you resist you become. If you resist anger, you are always angry. If you resist sadness, you are always sad. If you resist suffering, you are always suffering. If you resist confusion, you are always confused. We think that we resist certain states because they are there, but actually they are there because we resist them.” — Adyashanti
The most common answer I’ve seen on to how to deal with criticism is “Deal with it. Grow a thick skin.” The idea is that after a while of being insulted, criticized, or dragged over the coals, you develop a kind of emotional callous (‘thick skin’). Maybe this means that one day you wake up and you’re a-okay with someone trashing you and your work. Or you’re able to discern whose opinions matter and whose don’t. Or, at least, you get better at ignoring the pain.
But does that actually happen? Does the fiftieth time a person insults your work hurt less than the first? What about all of that time in the meantime while you’re ‘toughening up’? Many writers are sensitive people. That is not a bad thing. It’s a trait like any other, and oftentimes it’s quite valuable in creative professions. However, now more than ever you’re susceptible to thousands of people’s opinions about you and your work. What can you do about it if you’re not the sort who lets things roll off their back easily?
Or maybe it’s writers for productivity. Who the hell knows. Oh, wait – Jane Cui, the writer of the following article, does. Man, does she know:
30 Accomplished Writers Reveal Their Productivity SecretsThis is probably not the first productivity article that you have read. You probably have seen countless lists telling you tips like “Don’t go on facebook!” or “don’t check your email!”
But the real key to productivity is not about little tricks or one-day-stints. It’s about working consistently even if you don’t feel like it, or you’re too tired, or you have to take care of children. It’s difficult, but not impossible to create a system for works. You can do it, because these writers (who are human, just like you) have done it.