Nothing Much to Write About this Week — So Why Bother?
Some weekend mornings I loft from bed, hurriedly brew coffee and set to writing immediately.
There’s no need to coax the muse. The writing comes easily. The point I want to make has been in my mind for days. It can’t wait to escape my head and reside on the page.
This weekend is not one of those weekends.
I had a good week at Iron Tribe; not great.
I had a good week at work; not great.
I don’t feel like there’s anything especially important I should share with you, whoever you are.
Yet, here I sit trying to figure out exactly what to type into the void.
Why?
I started reading Daily Rituals yesterday.
The book’s subtitle is “How Artists Work” and covers the everyday routine of artists, poets, authors, composers, playwrights, painters, philosophers, etc.
161 artists to be precise.
I have been struck with how methodically the vast majority of these artists approached their work.
It fits right into my current (stolen) philosophy of Systems, Not Goals.
They rise at a certain time. They eat at certain times. They go to sleep at certain times.
And they work at certain times. Regardless of whether inspiration had struck them or not that day.
Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.
Maybe not the most romantic approach to creating art. But it obviously works.
Show up and do work. It’s not glamorous.
We want to emulate the result without copying the process. Heck, most of the time we don’t even want to know the process. We simply dream of achieving the result without putting in the work required.
One of my other favorite quotes so far:
As a result I have acquired a reputation over the years of being a prolix when in fact I am measured against people who simply don’t work as hard or as long.
~ Joyce Carol Oates
One of my systems is to write on the weekends.
So even though I have nothing, in particular, to share other than a few quotes from the book I’m currently reading, here I am — writing.
