When you're young, you have nothing but time and potential.
When you grow up, your obligations end up being the things that motivate you the most to do what you have to do.
It's possible to say that growing up in and of itself is the act of having responsibilities -- people places and things to bear in mind and do right by. What does this do to a person's creative process? What happens when resources like time, money and space start to dissipate and you become more limited in terms of your "freedom".
Virginia Woolf famously wrote that a woman would need money and a room of her own to be a successful writer. I think that applies to most of us now regardless of gender or age.
OK, so that's in bed; we know that modern life limits our ability to have the time space and resources (tools, instruments etc.) to wander about and just be creative most of the time. So what about motivation?
I'm not exactly someone you would call a self-starter most of the time. I'm a person in need of prodding, goading, cajoling, encouraging and sometimes a good whack with something blunt to get something started. In fact, if you look at my blog, I've only started really writing here in the last week and that is because my best friend challenged me to a "blog off" in an effort to break us both out of this block.
I'll give you a better example of this: I am a musician who writes songs, sings them and plays them in front of people. I have had periods of rampant songwriting, when I was dirt poor, living alone (at points in a transitional couch surfing state) singing about anything and everything that was on my mind. My most fruitful time for this was the beginning of this decade (which is about to end, people!) between the point that I was leaving Toronto and coming to Montreal to live and work.
Once I got settled here, the writing continued at a brisk pace but tailed off quickly, especially after I found my first apartment and became comfortable being alone full time. There was no one in the room anymore; no one to avoid disturbing while I was trying to create; no one to bounce an idea off of to see what they thought...just me with nothing but potential and time.
I became too comfortable and focused on working to live and there were no outside factors (either positive or negative) to influence me to get my creative ass in gear.
In 2004, a friend of mine offered to record me and help me to work on my songs. I wrote more again and recorded an album's worth of stuff (new & old), which I have to this day in my "library". After that I started gigging in Montreal and Toronto on occasion, building up my acoustic set, playing open mics every week. This was the birth of Balmoral Drive, the performer.
This lasted the better part of three years and I've probably played hundreds, if not thousands of time in front of folks, a handful were even paid gigs. Through most of that time, I was not writing anything else that was new, but I had a few hours of music to choose from. I could (still can and do) put together a different set of music, every time I play to make it interesting for myself. I pour myself onto that stage; literally, I sweat it out like a champ.
But then it got too easy and although I still do it on occasion, I started to feel a hunger to collaborate with people. Before I even got a chance to ask, I was approached by a friend of mine, Dave, who had put together a new band and wanted me to play guitar. This was September of 2009. Dave writes songs in the midst of running around as a student, teacher, dog owner etc. and they're quality tunes with interesting changes. We're close to the same age, and it made me think that I wasn't doing enough with my time. I have started writing songs again, both alone and in collaboration; I even use my iPhone as a notepad and recording device so I can retain some of those ideas that get lost in the ether of distraction. The band has a giant space with a PA system, recording gear, the works...we share it with a few people and we're able to get in two practices per week.
On Wednesday, it was only me and the drummer Josh in the space, and together we came up with a couple of song ideas that I captured on the iPhone for expansion upon later. That was about one hour.
As I said, I'm not much of a self-starter, but saying that, it doesn't take much to keep me going. The main motivator for me is momentum. I have creative ideas constantly, and being a working man in a stressful job means that if I don't have a way to keep the ideas, they get lost. Sometimes they come back, most of the time they are not the same.
Being a creative person (in my view) is inherent; your imagination is largely genetic. It's what a person has around them and what they do with it that determines whether their ideas become things in this world that exist outside of your head. I don't feel that a person's responsibilities inhibit their ability to be a creative person. I feel instead that a person will decide their own level of involvement in the creative process and determine how much of their time and potential an idea is worth.
The more I blog, the more I'll blog. Thank you to Warren for the challenge. I hope you see that I certainly accept.
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