Creative Bursts

I don’t do well with schedules.

I know that a lot of people write on a schedule. They set aside time every day and don’t allow distractions to disrupt their flow. That isn’t me.

I tend to write in bursts of creativity.

In 50 years of songwriting, I’ve often gone through long periods, even more than a year in some cases, of not writing anything new. Then suddenly I write ten songs in a month.

Sometimes it’s intentional. I’ve taken part in several “Fearless Songwriter” challenges on Facebook, where participants write a song a day for one week, often using prompts posted by the group’s leader. Then we share the results with the group. Sometimes I even come up with a good one that way.

Other times, one event or idea ends up triggering more ideas. That happened recently when I wrote my first piece on Medium about attending my aunt’s funeral. Writing that sparked another story and an entire song, all over the course of a few days. The other pieces had nothing to do with the initial event. But creativity was unlocked.

One guy I follow on social media has a regular schedule of gym, work (he’s a graphic designer by trade), and writing. I admire his commitment to all of that. But we’re also in different places in our lives. He’s much younger and looking to make money with his creative output. As a retiree, I like not having schedules. Who knows? That might change at some point, but for now, this is where I am.

Maybe I should try out schedules. I don’t use them in any other aspect of my life either. Maybe I should, for example, plan to do grocery shopping every Monday at 11. Clean the bathrooms every Tuesday. Focus on writing every day from 1:00 to 3:00.

I’ll never follow it.

Do I want to make money writing songs, stories, and essays? Hey, I wouldn’t mind making a few bucks. But at this point in my life that’s not why I do it. I do it because I enjoy it. And if other people like it, all the better.

I think I’ll stick with my creative bursts. They work for me. For now anyway.

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