I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the cycle of creative work. In my own creative life I seem to go through distinct phases, and rather than each phase co-existing I cycle through them, usually to a point of burnout, triggering an abrupt departure from one phase to the next.
I have been attempting to unpack this cycle, to try and understand it better, and I think it can be best divided into three phases: Practice, Creation and Promotion.
Read MoreMy last post was Thursday, which seems like an eternity ago as the last few days have been really difficult. This project was never meant to be easy, although up to now it has never felt impossible, and I've generally kept to my deadlines and retained my confidence in my ability to churn out new music when required. Over the weekend, however, I fell apart and spent a large part of it paralysed by anxiety. My rational brain knew that if I could just sit down and do the work I would end up with something, but when I tried I was unable to concentrate and found the anxiety expressing itself in physical symptoms, which is something I haven't really experienced before.
Read MoreToday marks the end of my first month of songs and I can't quite believe I've produced 31 new pieces of music in as many days. I can barely remember what I did last week, let alone the first week of this project. I think my next task has to be to book a gig, so that I have an excuse to workshop some of these songs to completion.
Read MoreWeek three begins, and I started today refreshed and ready to write again. The last few days had left me feeling quite stale, so I decided I needed to introduce some fresh creative material into my process. From yesterday I took the idea of the night, and did some quick and dirty Google research into night-related mythology. I was intrigued by Nyx, the Goddess of the night, and so I used her as the basis for this piece. In particular I was interested in the ways she might bring on the night, by physically casting a veil of darkness over the sky.
Read MoreThe tyranny of the blank page...
It turns out there was a fatal flaw in my plan for this project: I didn't have any kind of starting point for the very first song. I'm naturally an excellent procrastinator if given the chance, and I almost decided that my announcement of the project would count as today's work. But I made a late dash to the finish line after dinner and emerged triumphant.
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