Gun to Your Head...sort of

How do you create under a deadline? No matter what you are doing with art, whether it is part of your job or if you do it as a hobby there will be some situation(s) where you have to create on a deadline. You don't have time to go sit in your little Zen space and let the rain of creativity fall in the misty mountains of your...you get the point. You don't have time.

I actually got some ideas for this from a conference I attended a couple of years ago. The key to being creative on a deadline is continue to fill your creative box. Go with me for a minute.

Imagine a box. In the box are all your creative ideas. To be able to be creative on a deadline we have to have a full box. Here are some notes that I took from the conference.

1. Expand your world - Find a way to experience new things. Read, listen to new music, pursue with a passion to expand your world.

2. Train Your Brain - We have to escape what is known. This includes things like brainstorming, and asking great questions. One interesting idea was called Random Input. Here's how it works.

- Ask the question you are trying to deal with. For example, "How can we make our band better with...?"

- Then have everyone pull something out of their pocket, manpurse, whatever and hand it to the person on their right.

- Take a few minutes and answer the question. "How can we make our band better with (whatever is in your hand)?"

This might not get you to a final answer but it sparks creativity.

3. Invest the Time - You thought there was a way around this didn't you? You have to invest the time to process and capture ideas. You have to invest time to keep the box full.

"If you and I fail to paint the masterpiece no one will."

So when you have a gun to your head and have to come up with a creative idea the best thing you could do is prepare for the moment. Expand your world, invest the time, fill your box. It will always pay off.

*These ideas came from a session entitled "Unlimited Creativity" presented by Mark Miller.

Mind Space

So this is part 2 of a 3 part thought on creativity. To be honest, this is the one that I probably have the most trouble with. Something you should know about me is that I am part Artist and part Administrator. This is a paradox I am still struggling to come to grips with. That said, part of my problem in this area is that I need a system to capture ideas and sort them and be able to come back to them later. Unfortunately I haven't worked it out completely. But one thing that has really worked for me is a journal devoted completely to artistic ideas and whimsy.

A journal is a great thing. It becomes the bucket that holds all the creative thoughts that ooze out of the cosmos of the mind into one place. I highly recommend the black and white composition books. The important thing is that they have a string binding and not glue. I will be very adamant about this. The string is important.

So how do you capture the ideas once you have them?

White Space

So every once in a while I try to clear my mind. I mean really clear it. It's amazing how long 5 minutes seems when you are just trying to be still. I literally can't seem to do it. So if a creative idea or epiphany is going to register it has to come crashing in. It literally has to crash into every random thought already firing and dismantle my synapses and realign them snapping and crackling with this great new vision that must be seen or heard.

This doesn't happen as often as I would like. And sometimes it hurts because it happens at 4am and then you have to do something with it right then or lose it forever.

So I have to find some ways to create White Space. I have to do some dismantling on my own. When I know I need some creative thinking time there are a few things I try in order to prepare myself for a slightly less violent means of creation. Here are a couple...

1. Plan ahead - Plan ahead for creative inspiration? Blasphemy! Not really. If I know I'm having a hard time getting the White Space I need I look at the calendar, choose a day that I can spend some time and I prepare for it.

2. Turn off the media - I will take a few days and not listen to anything. No podcasts, no radio, no tv (well not much). I find after a couple of days of this media fast the random flutter of thoughts are processed until my brain finally shuts up.

3. Embrace the White - Sometimes this is the hardest part for me. To give myself permission to stare at the wall.... And do nothing.... To wait.... To wait some more.... To stare at the wall....

And then the warm glow. The fuzzy feeling that slowly comes into focus. The connection of unlike things that now make perfect sense. The epiphany that can be held and processed and shaped into the next creative piece that you jettison into the world.

These are just a couple of ideas. I would love to hear what you do with the White Space.

White Space, Mind Space and Creative Use of Space

I've been thinking about this for awhile and now I think I'm going to tackle my first three part blog posting. We live in a day and age that is moving faster and faster. Computers continue to get faster and cheaper. We have more gadgets, widgets and wickets that help us track more, engage more and process more everyday.

The clutter that we are creating is intense and unrelenting.

I have recently been following Seth Godin's blog and reading some of his books. One of the things he talks about a great deal is doing something remarkable. Doing something that forces people to stand up and take notice.

The challenge for the artist and for anyone trying to do something remarkable is that you have to break through the clutter. With that in mind, I really want to start a conversation about how people function in three different areas. White Space, Mind Space and Creative Use of Space. Maybe you don't think of your creative process in these terms or at all but I needed three titles for the posts.

White Space - How do you find time to stare at the wall and tap into the Mothership. The white space of the empty page forces me to find the time to let my mind go blank and tap into something different than my normal everyday thinking. Do you schedule time? Is it the same time everyday? What do you do when the inspiration just isn't there?

Mind space - How do you get in the proper mindset to be creative? What you do once you actually have an idea?. Do you stop everything? Write it on a post-it? Do you actually just remember it when you need to?

Creative Use of Space - Where do you find yourself the most creative? Where do you tune in the Mothership with the greatest level of success? What is the environment that turns that blank page into a blog post that is way too long?

I would love to hear from you and I will tackle each of these spaces separately over the next few days.