Rhythm, Routine, and Creativity: Struggling to Balance the Equation

A life in chaos may be a great place from which to derive creative experience, however, it is no home for artistic expression.

Over the last year I have found a creative rhythm on many different occasions; most notably during the months of December, January, and February. During this short period I was able to write 10+ pieces each month, my readership experienced huge growth, I was labeled as a Top Writer in the Photography genre on Medium, and I received compensation for my artistic talents for the first time in my life.

So what happened to my output? Why haven’t I written or published a piece in over 3 months?

Music needs to have some kind of consistent rhythm in order to be truly felt by its listeners. Similarly, without rhythm my creative language becomes almost uninterpretable; and with that, its production grinds to a halt.

When I first started writing I was a member of a Combat Veterans’ Writing Group. That group met on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month. I found that I was able to separate other aspects of my life from my writing, which allowed my story telling to mature quickly. I attribute this early success to the dedication of time, sitting down for a scheduled hour of writing, rather than trying to get it in when I could fit it in.

On the odd months when there was a 5th Tuesday, I found that I didn’t produce as well during the following session. There was too long of a duration between sessions, my tools were dulled with time, and my mind was cluttered.

As I began to hone my story telling skills I found that I had many more experiences that needed to be put to paper. Then I began to explore the world at a much more rapid rate than ever before, and I found that I had more stories to tell than I could record without setting up some sort of schedule. A schedule became a routine, and that routine quickly found rhythm.

I found that rhythm added so much more to my writing. Not only was I keeping my skills sharp, I was constantly honing them and acquiring new tools all of the time.

After moving to Arizona I found that there was always an interruption to the rhythm. I’d be comfortably gliding along on quarter notes in 4–4 common time, then BAM…I’m stuttering, clipping, and haphazardly leaping from notes that I tried boldly to staccato, without refinement, during an awkward travel through strange and unfamiliar time signatures.

A move from 1st to 2nd shift flipped my days on their heads. Then a move from 2nd shift to 4th shift(Friday-Sunday) turned my weeks inside out. By the time a promotion took me back to an altered 1st shift I found myself working my fourth different schedule in only 6 months.

Then came December, January, and February; the most productive and rewarding months of my creative life. While living a semi-familiar schedule I was confidently leaping from informative essays about Grand Canyon, to personal stories of my zany cat, to documented expeditions of Sedona, Zion National Park, and an adventure in Northern Italy with my best friend, a Marine Brother.

Then one day in mid-March, as I was beginning to hone my 3rd person story telling voice, I received a message on my LinkedIn that would once again change the course of my life.

Since that fateful day in March I have begun a new career as a Business Analyst/Technical Consultant in Phoenix for a very highly regarded business in the credit and banking industry; working on the Network Engineering team. From the time of the initial conversation with the woman whom I now report directly to, to the time I started my new position was a duration of barely more than two weeks.

To say that it has been a challenge would be a gross understatement. Leaving beautiful Flagstaff is going to be difficult, but I will be incredibly relieved to get the keys to my new house in Peoria after living in a hotel four days per week for the last nine weeks, commuting back and forth from work to home every Monday morning and Thursday evening.

The new house, job, and schedule should be conducive to the layout of a routine that will allow me to find rhythm like never before. It’s not common for a Phoenician to say this, but I’m new to the Valley of the Sun; so, bring on the summer!