In January, I went almost two weeks without writing anything for my blog.
I got a few e-mails when I started writing again, mostly folks hoping that everything was okay.
It's embarrassing, but mostly, I couldn't think of anything to write about. The other reason wass, I was doing an experiment.
I knew I had to produce some new work for my upcoming wholesale show. I had new artifacts (birds, masks) and a new technique I've developed (faux soapstone.) But I hadn't worked out samples for these new lines. And I really wanted to finish a few new wall hangings. I don't know if there is a market for them at the show, but it would be professional suicide to have NO new work.
I had other things that needed to get done, too. I've been working on an article about exhibition proposals for FiberArts magazine. It's my first magazine article (I'm not counting a regular column I write in the new StudioArts magazine....) I wanted to make sure it was really, really good.
But I was having trouble settling down to these tasks. What was keeping me from moving ahead??
So I put on my detective hat and went to work. I thought about what my day looks like, what the consequences of my work schedule decisions were, and what could be different.
Here are some of the roadblocks and time-wasters I found in my day:
1) Checking my e-mail.
I like to do this while drinking my first cup of coffee for the day. I do most of my professional communication through e-mail. In fact, I often forget to check my phone messages for days at a time, but I check my e-mail often. It FEELS like "getting to work".
But it isn't.
What I realized was happening is, I would invariably find something that just had to be taken care of. "It will only take a few minutes, and then I can get down to work," I'd think. But it always took longer than that. And while I was trying to get that "little task" done, I'd come across others that seemed just as quick and just as necessary.
Soon a couple of hours have gone by. Now it's time to go work out, or go get lunch, or kids get home from school, etc. And I never did get back to the artwork, or I'd get brainlock if I tried.
2) Answering the phone.
Because I'm bad about checking phone messages, I feel compelled to pick up the phone when I can. My business line AND the home phone. And because our family goes in a lot of different directions, each phone again usually involved something I'd have to take care of (or thought I did.) Looking up numbers, coordinating a get-together with someone else, scheduling an appointment or meeting.
Again, I'd be fired up about going in a different direction--one that DIDN'T lead back to my artwork.
3) Starting my day by blogging.
Writing is as important to me as making my fiber and polymer work. Writing gives me amazing insights and helps me make connections with all the threads running through my life.
But often, when I blog, I feel like I've made something. And then I'm off the "creative hook" for the day. Also, as I struggle to clarify my thoughts, streamline my writing, or research something, sometimes hours can slip away.
A blog IS a good thing for me to make. But if there is no art, there is no foundation for my blog.
So I did an experiment those two weeks. I tried not to blog until AFTER I'd worked on a wall hanging, or made up new jewelry samples.
I tried not to answer the phone. Okay, I'd look to see who was calling, but if I felt they probably weren't calling about someone actually dying, I wouldn't pick up.
And I made a point of not checking e-mail til after lunch.
I probably shouldn't have called these activities "time WASTERS". I still need to answer the phone and check my e-mail. And blogging is VERY important to my well-being. If you are a one-person biz, you HAVE to do all the big jobs AND little jobs yourself.
My flexible schedule allows me to work weekends and evenings if I need to get something done. I think I actually put in more time, hour for hour, than I would at a full-time job. There's always something to do--update mailing lists, getting images for a catalog, ordering supplies, filling orders, packing orders, shipping orders, invoicing, researching new product ideas, paying bills, paying bills, paying bills.
But they are all easily done at any time of the day. I found if I did the art FIRST, I still had the kind of energy needed to do e-mail, return phone calls, even blog.
It's that precious first-thing-in-the-morning creative energy I need to protect. So first thing every morning, I focused on nothing other than actual "making stuff."
It was amazing how much artwork I got done in that two week period.
I also noticed the late-night monkey brain rants eased off a bit. They didn't go away, but I found I could breathe through them and relax back into sleep. I was taking care of the BASE, the core activity--making art--that all these OTHER activities should SUPPORT, not REPLACE.
Does that make sense?
Not sure whether I can keep it up indefintely--habits are very hard to break! But if you also have trouble getting down to work on YOUR art, maybe this will be something you'd like to try, too.
Because I think if I do my ART every single day, then everything else will fall into place around it.
Maybe I won't have the perfect signage for the show, and I'm sure there will be some critical component I'm forgetting about. It ALWAYS happens anyway, so why worry proactively? The article got done--it was much longer than I'd planned, and I was worried it was late. But the editor says she likes where I took the topic, and wants to leave the length as is. So she's moving it to a later issue where there's more room for it.
By the way, the exhibition proposal article is slated for the Sept/Oct issue of FiberArts magazine. Look for it then, and be sure to let me know if you like it.
Actually, if you DO like it, let FiberArts know, too!
