Sounds kind of manic, doesn't it?
I don't think this is a particularly healthy way to live, at least not on a regular basis, but it happens, and when it happens, I have noticed the following:
- It is stressful;
- It is exciting;
- It really gets the creative juices flowing (i.e., the composition is fresh in my thoughts much of the time, which causes ideas to come more easily and frequently); and
- When the deadline has successfully been met, the excitement and flow of creative ideas continue.
I think that two of the main causes for "writer's block" are:
- Extreme self-censorship (we become too self-critical); or
- Loss of focus, for which there can be many causes, such as:
- Competing responsibilities or activities (e.g., care of loved ones, work, school, gigs, sports, cleaning/cooking, job-hunting, home-hunting);
- Depression/anhedonia/boredom;
- Trauma/major upheaval (e.g., death of someone close to you, broken relationship, moving to new home, starting a new job, losing a job)
- Stress (e.g., relationship, school, work, unemployment, financial);
- Poor health or other physical pain; or even…
- Having an unusually-good time in life (e.g., going on vacation, falling in love, winning the lottery, hitting a come-from-behind, World-Series-winning, walk-off home run, for the first time in the history of major-league baseball (thank you, Joe Carter!)).
Becoming less self-critical and more focussed can unblock impediments to creativity, many of which may be self-imposed, allowing us to move forward with our composition or whatever work in which we are engaged.
What do you do after the deadline has been met?
I find that after the deadline has passed, my brain continues to be in "hyper-creativity" mode, meaning I have lots of ideas, I continue to wake up early, and I have a general urge to create things, be they compositions, blog entries, story ideas, music theory handouts, or anything else that happens to interest me.If I do nothing — if I do not act on these creative impulses — I gradually return to my "normal" mode of functioning, and, if I am lucky, I get more sleep while I'm at it!
But there have been times when I have jumped immediately from the completion of one project to the start of another, and this has resulted in an uninterrupted creative flow, which has led to faster and more painless project completions than usual.
Right now, I have finished all school work for this semester, and I have ideas galore for stuff (including today's blog entry), and so my plan is to get busy on a couple of projects right away. Oh, and to finish my Christmas shopping too, of course (which, unusually for me, was almost done a week before Christmas).
In other words… to strike while the iron is hot!
This, I believe, is the basis for Benjamin Franklin's famous adage, "if you want something done, give it to a busy person." He was living proof of this; Franklin is described in Wikepedia as "a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat."
The busier we are, the more efficiently we must work in order to accomplish our tasks. If I return to composing after a protracted period away from it, I often find it very difficult to get started, as if the part of my brain used for composing has dust and cobwebs in it. If I immediately dive into another project after finishing a work, the composition process flows a lot more smoothly.
Let me know if you have experienced anything like this.
Happy creative flowing!
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