I'm writing my music alone for the very first time with this new material that I'm creating. Yes, there have been some tunes on my earlier albums that I've written fully on my own, but never a full project. And I have to say, while this is very exciting, it is also extremely daunting. I almost feel like it's been a truth that I've been running away from, even as it's been in front of my eyes. I've come up with a billion different ways of distracting myself from it--all kinds of unproductive thinking...but I think it's time to face up to it. Sink or swim, this is My Project. This is My Responsibility. Scary yes, but also very fucking cool..!
Creativity is an interesting animal. Mine doesn't like the daily stimulus of the computer, emails, phone calls, New York hustle and bustle. At all. It requires space and time and quietude, an opportune moment to be captured and played with. It flees very quickly when it hears a suggestion of chores, the word 'should' or self-criticism. All of this ought to be banished from the mind when one gets lucky enough to be stricken by inspiration. (Easier said than done, sometimes...)
In this world we live in, being creative can be challenging. I personally think it's a whole different ball-game than what it must have been in decades past, when there was no internet for example... And even further back, when there was no TV. These days even just the city and the computer will create enough noise to fill out any space for creativity, if one lets them. Though I've once viewed quiet time a luxury,
I now view it as a prerequisite to be able to create anything; I actually now see it as part of my work. And with that, I settle into an evening of guilt-free steeping, letting the reality sink in... It's My frickin' project.... Wow.
"Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it."
- Dee Hock
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