What kills creativity? Here are five things that really dry up my creative juices:
1. Jealousy - I started following a few of my favorite songwriters recently on Twitter, figuring it would help me understand their creative process, etc. But suddenly I found myself envying them - the community of artists and musicians and songwriters that they have, their freedom to do the creative thing full-time because it's their job, their gifts and abilities, their connections, and the fact that their identity equals "artist". Not only is jealousy just plain wrong... it also makes me feel inadequate and kills my desire to be creative, to dream, to write a song.
2. The Fame Disease - This one is loosely connected to jealousy for me. The question is this: "If I'm not a well-known songwriter, am I still a songwriter?" At what point does dreaming of being a "real songwriter" become discontentedness, and at what point should I stop dreaming and be satisfied with what I am right now? Heck, what does "well-known" even mean anyway? Why do I so want someone who is somewhat famous to sing one of my songs? I think the only prescription for the fame disease is faithfully "blooming where I'm planted" while still hoping for even more.... Oh, and more cowbell.
3. Self-critique - While some self-critique is undoubtedly a good thing, for me it stops me in my tracks before my creative juices really start to flow. I really need to let myself write and finish a song before I start picking it apart, or else I'll never finish it at all. Time-sensitive goals like the Scripture to Music project create urgency and help me get over this hurdle.
4. Audience Awareness - Again, a little bit of this is a good thing. But there is an order to things... first, I need to give myself space to write, even if the song only ends up being so-so and I'll never play it at a concert. Letting the audience "judge" me before they've even seen or heard me is a big creativity killer for me. I think this would be a problem if I ever became a staff writer.
5. Distractions - Twitter and Facebook and Web, oh my!
Your turn: what are your creativity killers?
No comments:
Post a Comment