Waves of creativity
I feel like society has sold a lot of us on the idea that if we love our art, we will constantly want to be creating.
I'm here to tell you that this isn't true.
I'm the kind of person who, if I have a composing job for a client, I will always be able to muster up the inspiration needed to make music. But for my own personal projects? It comes in waves.
June and most of July were really, really good months for getting a bunch of work done on Divinuet and my EP. The past few weeks? Not so much! For whatever reason, I just haven't been able to find any sort of creative spark.
This is different than a creative block, I think. That's when I have the energy to make stuff but am having trouble figuring out exactly what to do. This is more of a creative drought.
This would have freaked a younger me out, but current me has learned to roll with it. If my brain wants a break from creating, it gets a break from creating. I know from experience that at some point, probably fairly soon, I'll get a sudden jolt of inspiration and make something really good. Whereas if I try to force it, I will simply waste a bunch of time making garbage.
These sorts of creative droughts usually come directly after periods where I'm making a ton of stuff that I really like. That's definitely true this time. So I'm simply recovering, letting the creative reservoir refill. I've been spending a lot of time reading books that have been on my to-read list for ages, getting some admin and technical stuff done for Divinuet, and getting ready for a new part-time day job I just got.
This is just part of my creative process. Like so many things in life, my creative inspiration waxes and wanes. I've come to accept this, and things have felt so much freer and easier.