ELUSIVE VICTORIES: THE CREATIVE PROCESS

Thanks to my previous life in publishing and marketing, I get to do quite a bit of creative work for our clients – from small design projects like branding buttons or social media graphics to postcards to promote upcoming events, to more-involved projects like creating e-book templates or editing content for Websites or printed pieces.

But, the size or scope of the project is irrelevant. It’s the creative process that turns me inside-out every time.

Creative projects are some of my favorite things to do, and I like to think I’m pretty good at them. But, hands down, they’re often the most challenging.

I blame my parents.

Thanks to genetics, I’m one of the lucky (or cursed?) few whose brain is split pretty close to the middle. I have the soul of an artist with the brain of a bookkeeper. I have as much fun creating a small art piece to put on the bookshelf as I do neatly organizing whatever else is on said bookshelf. I can easily ignore a pile of jumbled junk on my desk, until the random moment hits when the mess drives me crazy. I am equally inspired by pieces in an art museum as I am by the inventory at an office supply store.

When it comes to sitting down to a blank computer screen with a creative assignment, my inner writer fights mercilessly with my inner editor. One struggles to let go of conformity while the other struggles for order.

I know the two sides upstairs can work together, as evidenced by the victory that eventually emerges … there’s nothing like the “That’s it!” feeling comes after tweaking and twisting and turning elements a hundred ways from Sunday trying to get everything just right.

But, victory is elusive. There’s no telling how quickly a truce will be established between Right Brain and Left Brain. Sometimes in a matter of minutes I’ve found my stride, and sometimes I’m tormented for days. So far I’ve narrowed the contributing factors down to the weather, the stars, the day of the week, what the dog had for breakfast, which pairs of jeans are dirty, how many days it’s been since eating Mexican food, the song on the radio, and the number of cars parked on the street.

I know I’m not the only one who struggles with the creative process. I once heard a famous mystery author – who has written a few dozen books – talk about her writing process and she, too, lamented about days of struggling through “mediocre storytelling” until that one day when everything clicked.

Anyone who has had to write, design, or otherwise create something original knows exactly what I’m talking about. But, it’s the challenge that makes the entire process worthwhile. The entire route to inspiration is riddled with lessons to be learned or re-learned — whether it be discovering a new software trick or a reminder to be patient with yourself, victory will emerge.

Eventually.