No more excuses

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about a lot of my creative endeavors that I'm involved in and thought it might be interesting to once in a while throw some thoughts and feelings out there and see what happens. Nothing will be off limits. So here goes.

For a while now I've been feeling like I've whatever I create it doesn't seem like I do it fast enough or as much as I would like. I think this is a normal feeling for anyone that creates in any artistic field( art,writing,sculpting,etc) and especially if the person doing the creating has any kind of motivation or drive to not only better their own work on a creative level but to become more prolific. More and more I try and surround myself with different books,cds and whatever else I can think of to help put me into that "zone" we all need to be in to do our best work. The problem with wanting to be in this "zone" is that when we are not there it's an easy excuse for us to just throw up our hands and say" Ah, too bad, I'm not in the mood to work". In fact this zone that I'm talking about happens once in a while for me and if i just sat back and waited to be in the mood or in the zone, I'd never get any type of work done on any creative level.

I hope you can indulge me for a while longer and let me explain a few things about what got me thinking about all of this and what it has lead me to believe.

It started quite a few years ago, while my buddy Jay and I were talking to an artist by the name of Brian Stelfreeze at a Con in Montreal around 1999( give or take), who by the way is an awesome artist and incredibly well spoken and giving of his time despite being so incredibly talented. I think we spent at least an hour talking to him about artwork,panel composition,lighting and working in this magical zone that I keep referring to in this Blog.

Talking to Mr. Stelfreeze for as long as we did I have to say when we were finished I felt like I had absorbed at least a few years worth of art classes from the man and felt like my brain was on fire as everything I had just heard was seeping into the membrane of my subconscious to become part of my creative nature. In any creative endeavor we ALL plateau and stagnate, therefore it's up to each and everyone of us to push ourselves past these sticking points and continue to push our creative boundaries. This is something that is easily said but until you reach a point where you can't seem to get anything done for whatever reason,it doesn't matter what,why,who or how. The point being is that we have to continually adapt how we work to our environment around us and hopefully be flexible and wise enough to embrace change so that we may continue to evolve to another level. It's the artistic equivalent of growing pains and it always hurts.

It always hurts..... Right there are 3 words that we as human beings would love to try and avoid but the sad truth of the matter is that life in general is never easy and no matter what plans we make life will hurt you,humble you and put you on your knees and leave you there if you let it. This applies to anything you can think of in our life on a daily basis. Creative types in general are usually one step removed from being either a genius or a nut job or God forbid a hack. We all have a lot to deal with on a daily basis,internally as well as externally and the you have to factor in life and all of it's "surprises" that it keeps in store for us at any given time. In other words we are fighting a battle and in order to make any headway we can't sit back and say "well gee,I'm not in the zone today so I'll do fuck all", this of course is the easy way and would make the most sense to most humans.
I'm here to say though that this way of thinking is the easiest road to mediocrity and eventually the death of your creative energies. So what do you do?

This is where the answer becomes quite clear if we just stop and think for a minute. In school we were taught at an early age to follow a schedule,the same for high school, our first summer job and eventually our first real job,so why not our creative passion? If You don't set aside the time to create, who will? Do you have magical elves that show up at night and create what you need? I know I'm being an asshole right now but this is important and just like an intervention where no one wants to hear shit that's fucking up their life, it's important and necessary to listen.
Set aside a certain amount of time each day and make it your religion to get that amount of time done in whatever creative venture you aspire to achieve and JUST DO IT.
No excuses.
No more wasting time.

This is a call to arms. Life is not stagnant,why should we be? Find your muse,no mater where that bastard is hiding,even if it's under the bed with the dust bunnies,grab him?her and slap the fuck out of them and put them back to work. I know at first this will seem alien and hard but once you have established your commitment to your craft and have begun honing your tools and are putting in the time needed to create, all of a sudden you have no excuses.

I think you also have to be honest with yourself about a lot of things. The first and foremost being: am I doing as much as I can? Can I create more? Do I waste too much time on things that are a byproduct of our society? Television,movies,etc,etc?

As human beings it's very easy for us to get comfortable on many levels and forget what we need to do,at least until it's after the fact and by then time has passed and it may be too late. To me it's never too late. Only if you're dead,then it's too late. As long as you have a breath in your body there is no excuse.

Now, go out and create something.

Rich.