How I'm Un-stucking My Creativity
The best way through a creative problem is to give myself a different creative problem to solve, and I'm doing it ALL MONTH LONG.
It’s 10:30 pm on Monday evening and I have to be up in seven hours to take my kid to morning practice. I have an appointment tomorrow at 10 am that’s thirty minutes away, and in the in-between time, I need to go take pictures of something cool.
What the cool thing is, I have no idea, but I have a short window for being able to capture the morning golden hours and I cannot wait to make it happen.
I’m not (generally a photographer, so why am I excited to go take pictures of an undisclosed location without knowing what I’m doing?
Because, why the hell not?
The thing is, I’ve been in a small, creative slump lately. I haven’t generated anything truly interesting in weeks and I am starting to feel the creative muscles atrophy from my inactivity. I told myself that I would dive into some daily creative ritual, but I couldn’t stick to it, mostly because I was out of ideas. Instead of trying to pour myself into a sketchbook or digital painting app, I decided I want to explore new opportunities.
Why do they make sidewalks?*
Here’s are some creative projects I’ve had on my short list for years
non-thrown and thrown ceramics/pottery
street art / wheat paste
Leather craft
wood carved spoons/utensils
altered clothing
Urban/street photography
I am a creative generalist, after all. It’s definitely time I start putting that moniker into action, and why not start with an exploration of urban landscapes and street photography? How hard could it be?
Why choose photography as my first creative project? Mostly because I had the tool already in hand. All of the others (minus the wheat pasting) I need equipment and materials. I’ve already started buiding up some of the tools quietly over the last few months, but shizz is expensive these days, and though I have picked up a few new members lately, Uncle Dave ain’t rolling in dough just yet.
*Because the streets ain’t for everybody!
Tiny Experiments
That’s the title of a book I was recommended by a friend on Substack. It’s authored by Anne-Laure Le Cunff, a neuroscientist and entrepreneur who has been documenting her journey of learning in public for years.
I’m not yet finished with the book, but one part of it that resonated with me immediately is how Le Cunff shares that linear project-based goals often are the ones we abandon the most (I want to write a book. I want to run a marathon). Instead she suggests using non-linear, process-oriented goals instead (I will run 1 mile every day for a week. I will write 500 words a day).
She calls these goals P.A.C.T.s, which stands for purposeful, actionable, continuous, and trackable, and the point of the goal is to help us better understand things about ourselves; perhaps how much we love writing, or how much we hate running and need a new PACT.
My PACT with myself is that I will attempt a new creative process every month and then share my findings and results with you. This doesn’t mean I’ll be doing that project every day during the month, but I will commit to working on it at least once per week so I can write about it here. My theory is that each monthly process will add some element to my creative tool box, which then lends itself to the other projects I have going already.
This is a good time to talk about The Back Room.
That’s what I call the members area, and where I talk about the nitty gritty, behind-the-scenes work that goes behind all the projects (or processes) I’m working on. For instance, in this post, I’m sharing;
My intention behind this month’s PACT
Stories from the journey
The lessons I learn along the way and how I’m using it for other things
Things I saw but couldn’t capture
My progression with the creative output (the photos)
The best photo I took all week (IMHO)
Each week during the month, you’ll either get a quick update about how it’s going, or a full post (at least two guaranteed). If you want the inside track on knowing how this all plays out, subscribe or upgrade.
I’m no trail guide, but you can follow me
The big idea here is that I would like this to become something bigger than, “Hey, let’s watch Dave mess up a creative project in public.” I’m definitely not confident enough to say that anyone would benefit from doing what I’m doing and can follow along, BUT that is the big idea. I would love to have people join the monthly PACTs, experiment, play, and indulge creative curiosity. That’s what I’m leaning toward and what you can expect in the near future.
There will be challenges, exploratory moments, mostly likely Q&As, and maybe even live discussions about the process. Think of it like elementary school arts and crafts show-n-tell. It’s going to be great.
But I digress…
