The only problem

with cycles is when you get

stuck. No momentum.

[Reminder: I will be at Vintage & Modern Books from 12:30 – 2:30 Tuesday afternoon.]

If you know me, you might think this leads to my bicycling passion. In a circuitous route, it does. Aren’t those the best kind? Starting with our creative interests, I want to explore cycles of productivity, focus, and career path.

Productivity

Last week I looked at beginnings. While this was not an exhaustive in-depth piece, I hope you looked at how your process works. There were times when my own process ended with a scrap of paper that joined its mates in a pile in the car. Which moved to a shelf. Finally, it dropped out of sight (horror of horrors) trapped in a file drawer.

The piece that retains my interest drags me away from brain-sucking internet surfing. When one tugs at my conscious thoughts I know it has to be dealt with. Now isn’t that a bit backward? Indeed.

Maintaining a productive cycle of work means being intentional. There is inspiration, planning, rough draft (actual writing), editing, rewriting, critique, and final polish. Like rotations of a wheel, each work through will bring you closer to a leaner – yet more effective – piece.

You know these things. Each step is essential. Somehow we fool ourselves into believing that we deserve another round of [insert name of game here]. We’ve lost momentum and really don’t know where to pick it up again. I’ve been in that mode. While at times we do need to step away and let our subconscious work, don’t get stuck.

Keep each piece in motion. After that spark of inspiration, explore the thought to find what is driving it into your creative space. What does it mean to you? Is there a message worth sharing with others? What are you going to give your reader? Writers have as many reasons for writing as readers do for reading. Entertainment, escape, information, motivation, even seeking a resolution to a problem they don’t know they have.

The momentum may have started with one of those beginnings we looked at last week. Now we carry it forward by following through. Keep the cycle moving.

Focus

There are thousands of social ‘engineers’ vying for your attention. You may feel like someone is watching you, hah. Yes, there are many watching your keystrokes, your most visited webpages, your crowd of friends, every moment you spend online is tracked. This is to remind you that turning off the internet may be the single most productive thing you can do. Even if your favorite writing tool is a computer, you can turn off the Wi-Fi and let your words flow.

Without the distractions, we can dig down to the basic motivation for a piece and explore the implications. You may find a piece is actually unworthy. Another is a great practice of some skill or technique, but the core is not shareable. Next thing you know, you are actually in your writing and not just regurgitating platitudes. You are becoming intentional. You have found your focus.

I’ve learned to manage my distractions. By keeping near the last piece I worked on or another creative project I can rein in my distractability. My focus may wane, but I can keep it coming back to progress in my creative life.

Career Path

I prefer to ride on bike paths. Like the above example, I can eliminate distractions of cars, trucks, and usually rough roads. Once a path is picked, the signs continue to lead closer to the destination and point the way. What kind of creator are you? Do you travel well worn habits? Do you prefer to work away from home? Some like the anonymity of folks walking by without having to interact. Do you have a studio at home that works like an escape? One of the things I like about my upstairs studio is its lack of access to a phone and my position of my back to the rest of the house.

More specifically, examine whether writing is your goal. While working your day job, you may be looking to a day when you can write as a living. If you are simply testing the waters, you are probably not giving ‘this writing thing’ intentional effort. That makes it so much easier to wait until another moment.

As an aside, I like to write poetry as job one. Yet, I author non-fiction, fiction, and make art in handmade books, drawings, paintings, and folded paper projects. If I focus on one for a time, I have this strange effect of opening up the creative channels. When I want to write, I might pick up a sketch book and draw a few images that the topic brings to mind, which leads to words that become a solid writing. It happens in reverse for a piece of art. Begin by jotting down words, that begin to form shapes, and a project to capture the meaning might pop into mind.

Or not. My creative muse can be a fickle taskmaster. One thing I know for sure. If I do not entertain it, I become a surly bore. Time to roll out the ideas and move forward with the creative cycle. Back to my bicycling. We have a plan to work hard three weeks out of the month and then take a week of active recovery. Keep moving so you don’t lose momentum. Active recovery gives the intense training a break. It helps keep one from getting burned out. My creative life benefits from a pattern of working hard and taking short active recovery periods.

What are your cycles in creativity? Come and chat them up with me at Vintage and Modern Books (on 6^th street in Racine) Tuesday between 12:30 and 2:30. I’ll be there, writing. Feel free to disrupt my cycle. That’s why I’m there.

—Christy Hoff

ArtRoot Writer-in-Residence