Pushing Creativity

As the old man (who is playing chess against himself for a fine set of teeth in Geri's Game, above) states to The Chicken Man in Toy Story 2:

"Ya CAN'T RUSH ART."

He's right, you know. You can't rush it. Sometimes it just has to come on it's own. Which is probably the most frustrating thing I can think of.

Except people who train their dogs to hold a treat on their noses without moving. How cruel is that. You know the dog is thinking of where he can poop in your house so you'll never find it.

I'm finding that, while the surrounding situation doesn't have to be ideal, it does at least have to be somewhat conducive to creativity. It doesn't have to be FAO Shwartz....but it can't be Dr. Joyner DDS either. Times of day are big for me, too. Afternoons between 2-4 may as well be siesta. Chalk up after 9 or 10 at night as well. I've learned to recognize how I start to dip, and how I start to feel, and know that it's just time to play a few games of online Scrabble, or armorgames.com and ride it out.

However! I've also found that plugging away at something (lyrics for a song, for example), plodding and pushing and poking, counting syllables and clapping rhythms, sometimes will result in exactly what you've been looking for.

In studying Stravinksy's Petrushka (in college...it's not light reading for me), widely considered one of the most popular and acclaimed musical works of the 20th century, he stated that he would force himself to work, hours at a time in some cases, on music that he would hate and later crumple up and throw out. But, after the discipline of working, the pressing of pencil to paper, the repetition of the same melodic line over and over and over...that's when it happened.

For a brief second, everything lined up, posture straightened, something clicked, eyes widened, and pencil could not keep up with the idea. It was as though inspiration came and blew away the gritty sand to reveal the final resting place of the Ark of the Covenant.

I say all of this because I'm awaiting that inspirational intervention. I'm plodding..and as you can see by the time stamp (and the mere fact that I'm blogging) that it's nearly siesta time for me...but I'm pushing through.

I'll let you know how it all works out. (and some of you might hear how it works out, if you purchase some fantastic product from Group Publishing around, oh, say, Thanksgiving time).

And you people? Push through the boggy sludge...you might just find gold on the other side.