Question for you creative types. (You know who you are.)

[MilesColtrane]

You're spinning your wheels.

Your muse doesn't even know your zip code.

How do you break out of it?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear MilesColtrane...

When my muse gives me nothing but crap, I just keep on writing. I know that eventually the better stuff will show up...

You just have to keep at it...

First, take a little break, just long enough to relieve the pressure you feel because you're spinning your wheels. And RELAX.

Then, get back into it...

Stay calm. You will eventually hear your muse...

[MilesColtrane]

4. Good advice Peggy.

I need to remember that the greatest artists were also the ones with the greatest work ethic.

Van Gogh and Coltrane both practiced obsessively.

I guess it's a matter of being able to stand the huge amount of drek that I crank out to get to the little bit that is truly worthy of something.

[rrneck]

2. Clean the studio.

Scrape the palette. Stretch some canvas.

Putter around.

Or at least sit in front of the work and drink coffee.

[MilesColtrane]

5. Good advice, except when the puttering becomes all that comes out.

Maybe I just need to get the hell out of Dodge for awhile.

[rrneck]

10. LOL!

I've got a studio full of puttering. It might be said I have a life full of it.

Sometimes it helps to set out to make crap. First, paint it wrong. Sometimes I think the creative process is basically fixing it until you can't fix it any more without completely rebuilding it or throwing it away.

On edit: Sometimes it helps to revel in past successes. Revisit something that worked well for you. It can make you feel better.

[MilesColtrane]

12. hmm...considering that you may have something there.

Maybe I need to make the aural equivalent of happy little trees on the canvas to clean out the pipes.

[uncommon]

21. Seconded - clean your work space.

Then go out and clean your mind.

Then go back to it.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

3. I sideline my expectations and dive in

"Doing something" doesn't always deliver the results I'm looking for immediately, but it does break the spell of inertia.

That was the intention behind the "Cemetery Series" photos I posted recently on DU. I was in a rut, I wanted to break out of it, so I took those photos and decided to have a good time Photoshopping them, without agonizing over how wonderful they'd be. That managed to break the spell and I felt the creativity flowing once again.

That's also been the intention behind the haikus I've been posting. I don't consider myself a poet. I just have fun spanking that 5-7-5 format, and a couple of times it's lit the fire I needed to do something a little more substantial.

Waiting for the muse is seldom a great idea because sometimes the muse expects you to throw pebbles up at her second-story bedroom window until you wake her up and she asks you why you woke her up and you tell her you want her to come down and play with you, and she does.

:toast:

[MilesColtrane]

8. The problem is that doing something (writing, practicing) feels like a...

root canal without anesthetic at the moment.

God, could I be any whinier when there are folks who's smallest problem is where there next meal is coming from?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

13. I write on primarily DU to practice my writing and maintain my chops

There are days when I have all kinds of horrible shit going on that, for the most part, I keep to myself, while crafting hypnotizing threads about cheeseburgers, Jefferson Airplane, and Jessica Alba's cleavage.

The more you think about the fact that you don't want to do it, the less you'll feel like doing it.

I've made mix CDs as therapy, to break through the crap we're discussing here. Sometimes it's 80 minute worth of music that goes together like oil and water, but other times, it's fuckin' genius if I do say so myself (and I do).

If you attempt to motivate yourself via some kind of expectation regarding the end result, you won't motivate yourself. Sometimes the frustration is that you have something inside that wants OUT, but it's not content with flowing through normal channels. That's when you sit down and write or practice and think "Holy FUCK, where did THAT come from?"

I've also recycled bits and pieces of half-asssed attempts into spectacular and unforseen wholes.

Being an artist is not a part time job. Do something. Now.

[Heidi]

6. Just do it.

For me, self-discipline is as important as originality and skill. When (for lack of motivation) I don't feel like pushing forward, that's the time to push hardest. Knowing when to step back is also important (and also a function of self-discipline) but I'd never get to the "stepping back" point if I didn't push forward in the first place. :hi:

[MilesColtrane]

9. Hi Heidi.

No doubt that going to the canvas, keyboard, ukulele every day with devotion is the solution.

Now to psyche myself out to actually do it.

It's kind of like, how do you make yourself have faith, when you don't have faith?

[Heidi]

11. Well, my friend,

I'm not big on faith. I'm a heck of a lot more connected to applying the elbow grease required to realize a vision. I do things because I enjoy doing them, am pretty good at doing them and want to become even better at them, and because they improve my life experience in some way (and if I'm lucky, maybe someone else's life, too). But mostly, I do things (including every kind of work I've ever done) because most of the time I enjoy doing them.

Hang in there. The muse isn't some ethereal being who flits in and out of your life. The muse is your ability to call upon your life experience, skill, self-discipline, etc., to create something. (Just my opinion.)

P.S. :hug:

[REP]

7. The muse's name is Godot

Stick figures. Shopping lists. Counterpoint to jingles. Whatever it is you do, you have to make yourself do it until something happens.

[Tindalos]

14. Travel

It doesn't have to be far. Just going to a different part of the city, walking a different route, checking out some new places, can shake the cobwebs loose. It sucks when ideas aren't flowing, but inspiration can come at any time. You'll find your muse again.

[old mark]

15. My painting studio has no AC, so I seldom even visit it in the summer...

when it is tollerable to spend time there, I'm so ready that I turn out work in a batch and they take time for it all to dry, which gives me a chance to look at what came out. I have some things that came out full blown and one or two that are taking years to develop. The only thing I really do regularly is play guitar - I do that every day.

I do spend way way too much time here, though - that will change when things cool off a bit and I get back to "work". I am very fortunate in not having to make money from my work.

mark
added; This thread inspired me to start one of my own to see who here is an artist and what do you do...Peggy, Poets are acceptable and you certainly qualify highly.

[KurtNYC]

16. 2 days in Montreal

[RadiationTherapy]

17. Creativity is a blessing and not an obligation.

First, forgive yourself. You don't have to prove anything to anyone ever; unless you do.

Next, logistics. I find a lot of my creative projects go better if I do some thinking, organizing, and make some lists.

If you have a deadline or a contractual obligation, then some upthread ideas are good, but I don't see the need to stress my creativity glands if they run a little dry.

[bikebloke]

18. Sometimes, it's just the project.

I'll put it on a back burner and work on another, coming back when I'm more inspired. There was a photo/video I started 4 years ago, but was dead in the water as to how I wanted to present it. A couple weeks ago, I discovered some music that would propel it perfectly. So I finally finished it last week.

[Iggo]

19. Force myself into an unfamiliar genre.

[Redstone]

20. Be patient. Do something else for a while. And, it might help

if you have a nice, refreshing Adult Beverage (I can't do that anymore, but it's worked for me in the past).

Redstone

[Forkboy]

22. If it's not something you have to do to make a living, walk away for awhile.

I love doing art, but I only spend about three months a year on it all together. The moment I feel that I'm forcing it I really start to struggle, so I just put it away. When I start getting ideas popping into my head while I'm doing other things then I know I'm ready again. Sometimes that's months. Other than one picture for my sister I haven't done any art since April, and I'm just now getting the hankering to dabble in something artistic again. Some ideas are percolating. :)

[MilesColtrane]

23. Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

I will take your advice to heart.

I did find Peter Schmidt and Brian Eno's 'Oblique Strategies' to be a help.

http://www.rtqe.net/ObliqueStrategies/OSintro.html