Don’t Break the Dam – A Guide to Creative Self-Discipline
A lot of artists I’ve known throughout the years suffer from the same form of creative guilt as I do. This guilt is that little voice inside of you that says:
“Daniel, you haven’t done any writing today or yesterday! You’ve been working on the same story for a month now! You gotta do something big and monumentous! You have to prove to everyone that you can do it! You gotta drop everything and write for 4 weeks straight, never stopping and not talking to anybody! Everyone is going to think you’re some sort of hack if you don’t deliver some sort of product, and FAST!”
As great as these intentions are, this usually leads to something I like to call “breaking the dam.” It’s a creative act that seeks to do something REALLY BIG, and ALL AT ONCE, like some sort of creative hiroshima massacre.
Sure you got everyone’s attention with your huge explosion of creativity, but this doesn’t give you a good foundation to build on. Instead it gives all artists a false sense of accomplishment.
Please learn from my mistakes, and know that leaps of absurd ambition do not equal productivity… or product. Haven’t you ever heard anybody say, “quality, not quantity?”
I know there is a lot to be said about setting high goals for yourself, and I’m all-for people trying to pursue their dreams. I also understand that there are some artists who can’t help but get a flush of inspiration. This is an enviable aspect of the craft. Yet it is an aspect that is strengthened by a routine, rather than a stand alone occurrence. But if you ‘break the dam’ on your craft… yes you will be doing something big with your life, but at the end of the day you’re left with a broken dam. You’ll be drowning in your own flood waters, and you won’t have any energy left to pick up the pieces.
Try to build a foundation for yourself – brick by brick; a great cement dam that holds back the demons of guilt and doubt. You need to be prepared for failures. I’m sure everyone has heard the bedtime story of the Tortoise and the Hare. Slow and steady wins this race. Don’t tucker yourself out and feel depleted every year. If you do that you won’t get anything done.
Famed director Stephen Spielberg made several made-for-TV movies, and TV-Specials before he even attempted an ambitious project like JAWS. Learn from my mistakes. Please. Small ‘doable’ actions have gotten me further than I ever thought possible.
Practice some self discipline, and map out a plan of action for yourself before making any drastic decisions. Then put your plan into action, and by all means PACE yourself.
Just try to be a doer, and NOT a doer-all-at-once.
- Daniel J. Pike
Writer’s Tool #7: The Gadget-Free Day
You’d never believe it, but in a timespan of just four months…
…I’ve locked my keys in my car a total of 7 times.
Oh yes, I’m an idiot.
Thankfully, I’m not capable of misplacing my brain (at least, I hope not), and there is usually always access to paper and pens. You’d be shocked how many coffee stores, or restaurants are willing to part with a few pieces of paper and a pen if you ask nicely.
Now, if you’re a dunce like me, and you need to wait around for people to bring you a spare set of keys, or for a mobile car service to arrive, you can get pretty creative in passing the time. I’ve learned the benefits of using this time to concentrate on my writing.
I get a good chuckle out of picturing the first few times I’ve done this, and literally thinking to myself “Oh no! My cellphone, laptop, and journal are locked in my car! HOW AM I GOING TO WRITE?” … then it dawned on me one day, while waiting for my parents to bring me my spare set of keys, that I could simply ask a local Starbucks for a few pieces of paper and a pen.
Not only did they provide the materials I needed, in feeling sorry for my predicament, they gave me a free latte! Score!
It’s funny how many businesses are so eager to help you when you do something stupid. It’s almost as if the break in routine gives them an excuse to leave their all important burger flipping, in pursuit of some scrap paper… or some band-aids (don’t ask.)
At any rate, the lesson I’ve learned in all of this, was how much ACTUAL writing I completed, not having my cellphone, or an internet connection to actively distract me from doing everything. It’s astonishing how your brain is FORCED to think, when you have nothing to do.
This is also a fantastic way to iron out writer’s block. I’ve climbed out of many plot holes, and character problems this way. It amazes me how much of a creative recovery it can be, not having a gadget at your side. Unless you’re some sort of business tycoon, and your crackberry or i-arm is some sort of appendage, then I highly recommend trying this out. Before the advent of technology, many writers got along just fine without a cellphone, laptop, or what-have-you. “Just turn it off” some might say …
… sorry, I don’t have that kind of willpower. Perhaps that’s also a reason why I’m tubby. Just leave your devices at home, and thank me when you get a crap-load of writing done.
TASK: Set aside a large chunk of time, and leave every precious electronic thing you own that may distract you at home. Bring nothing but some paper, and a pen. (perhaps an extra pen, just in case.)
This writing tip is brought to you by a forgetful idiot.
You can find other tools like this in the Writer’s Toolbox link, at the top of the page.
Don’t let your STORY PLOT become your BURIAL PLOT.
One of the biggest cardinal sins any writer can commit, is becoming too emotionally dependant on artistic perfection.
I’ll admit, there is a certain ‘romance’ about being an eccentric artist; to be obsessed over your craft, and consumed by a desire to make the next ‘great work of art’. Everyone who is creative has had this thought at one point or another.
However, there is a signifigant flaw in this ideology. At what cost is an artist willing to be consumed by his or her depression? In his book On Writing, Stephen King explains how his addiction to drugs and alchohol consumed his life. His wife gave him an ultimatum. King made the wise choice, and decided to clean himself up. Not for his craft, but for his family, and his emotional health. No artist should punish themselves, or partake in mind-altering drug induced stupers to make ‘great art’.
A healthy writer is a good writer.
When I read the final letter author Virigina Woolf wrote to her husband, (before filling her coat pockets with stones, and drowing herself in the river) I find absolutely no ‘romance’ about being depressed.
“Dearest, I feel certain that I am going mad again. I feel we can’t go through another of those terrible times. And I shan’t recover this time. I begin to hear voices, and I can’t concentrate. So I am doing what seems the best thing to do. You have given me the greatest possible happiness. You have been in every way all that anyone could be. I don’t think two people could have been happier ’til this terrible disease came. I can’t fight any longer.
I know that I am spoiling your life, that without me you could work. And you will I know. You see I can’t even write this properly. I can’t read. What I want to say is I owe all the happiness of my life to you. You have been entirely patient with me and incredibly good. I want to say that – everybody knows it. If anybody could have saved me it would have been you. Everything has gone from me but the certainty of your goodness. I can’t go on spoiling your life any longer. I don’t think two people could have been happier than we have been. V”
There is nothing beautiful about being unhealthy.
If you have let your craft consume your health, and depribe you of the things in life that make you happy, seek immediate remedy.
There have been many times where I thought my story would get the best of me. I suppose part of the writer’s craft is to worry about that sort of thing, but for me, there is a marginal difference between worrying about plot, and having a panic attack about it.
Don’t become lost in a sea of story structure. It’s very easy to become tangled in a web of ideas. One thing I’ve found, is that many story structure books neglect to tell you about the downside of ‘over-planning’. They don’t discuss the emotional impact of throwing your heart and soul onto the blank page.
Now, I’m sorry to tell you this writers, but I’m about to turn your lessons and understanding on the topic completely upside down.
Don’t worry about structure until you’ve written it.
I’ve had to learn this the hard way. I spent a good 6 years worrying about whether or not people would like my story. Whether or not I’ll ever ‘make it’ in this business. During this time, if I had spent my energy concentrating on fixing my grammar, or actually completing something, I would have saved myself years of emotional baggage.
"Lost in Structured Writing" - by D. Pike
I leave you now with two quotes that remind me not to be so hard on myself, and to concentrate on writing, rather than worrying.
“In order to write about life, first you must live it!” – Earnest Hemmingway
and finally,
“Nothing is so fatiguiging as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.” – William James
There is nothing worse than having never finished a project. Just pick up whatever story you’ve started and finish it. Don’t worry if it’s going to be good or bad. Just DO IT. GET IT DONE!
You’ll notice a very large weight lift from your soul.
Don’t be Virigina Woolf. She let the pressure of success and completing the next great work of art weigh her down like the stones in her coat pockets. She should have saught medical help, rather than take matters into her own hands.
If you suffer from mental illness in this way, pick up a phone, and call someone for help. There is no shame in doing this. All great writers have suffered this, but the greatest writers (in my opinion) are those who seek help when they need it most.
