It’s that time again-Mama KP Mondays! First, let me apologize for missing last week. I have no excuse except it was Labor Day, and I did anything but Labor that day. I rarely take a full day off, but it was needed. We all need moments of rest, and that was my job last Monday-to rest. I’m not gonna lie, y’all. I suck at it. Taking time to rest and rejuvenate and just BE instead of constantly moving on something or working is extremely hard for me. Am I the only one on this? I’m working hard on trying to find some balance in my days and trying to figure out what, exactly, that looks like. It’s surprisingly hard for me, and I know it is for a lot of you too. And while the topic of balance and rest is coming, that is not my topic for today. Even if I clearly have it on the brain right now. LOL
Today, I want to discuss process. I’m always amazed at how different every author and artist I speak to is and how their processes differ. Here are some of the comments I hear:
“I know some people do it like this, but I do _________. I know it’s weird.”
“I have to have complete silence when I work. No distractions. I turn my wifi off and go to town.”
“I need music, mindless television…something going in the background. Silence in itself is too distracting for me.”
“I have everything plotted out completely. I work off of an outline and bust it out.”
“I can’t outline or think ahead for the life of me. I let the characters do the talking and go with it.”
Isn’t it funny (and I’ll admit that it’s amazing to me), how different we all are? I love the fact that the deeper I get into working with artists, the more it becomes clear that there is no right way to create. And that is the coolest thing to me. We were all created so differently ourselves that it only makes sense that the way we do our own creating would be different, doesn’t it?
Here’s the other thing I find funny though… the comparison factor. Why do we do this to ourselves? We know in our head that there is NO RIGHT WAY or PROCESS to the way we create. We know it, but we still look over to the side at someone else’s process and think, “I wish I could be like that.” or “Look at how they do things and they have such amazing songs, characters, words…If only I could do it like they do.” Or we have it shoved down our throats telling us that our process is wrong because we do it THIS way and not THAT way or THAT way and not THIS way. Honestly, it’s kind of gross when I see someone telling someone else they are wrong because they do it one way instead of another way. We’re all different, so why is one way the best way?
Sure, there are some things that have tried and true processes. Best practices, if you will, that it’s important to pay attention to and be mindful of. I like to think that a huge part of making your art your business is knowing your business, honing your craft, researching and learning those best practices. But in the area of creating…it’s hard for me to agree that there is only one way to create. And I’m tired of hearing creatives tell other creatives and artists that their way is wrong. How deflating and exhausting for the ones that are supposedly in the wrong. And if you are always focused on what everyone else is doing, how are you getting any of your own creative work done? Let’s stop being all judgy, judgy and just focus on getting our own shizz done and loving the fact that we even get to be creative, shall we?
Because there is no wrong way to create. There’s no correct process to finish a novel, write a song, paint a masterpiece, etc. Again, we’re not talking about once you are done creating and want to make money off of it. We’re talking about the act of creating-pure and simple.
So go do your thing. Create like madmen. Figure out what works best for you and kill it. Go hard and love every second of it.
Staring Up,
KP