Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Discipline and Distractions

Between 2009 - 2010, I was unemployed. And this was one of the most creatively productive times in my life. My schedule would be as follows:

1. Exercise
2. Spend 1-2 hours looking for jobs
3. Either write 5 pages or write for 2 hours
4. Practice guitar
5. Work on an art project
6. Free time

I wrote 5 feature screenplays (and completely revised a 6th). I did a number of mixed media pieces (some you have seen on the site like Willie Nelson, Brandon Flowers, and Tom Morello). And I even wrote a bunch of songs (meaning I had to teach myself to actually write songs). Lucky for all of you I didn't have access to good recording equipment or I may have tried pushing a poorly produced EP on your ears.

Since my unemployment ended in August 2010, a lot has changed. I got a smart phone, with a number of distracting games and apps. I was just on Facebook in 2010, and now I manage a Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter account (the latter two just for art). I have accounts with Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and HBO GO, with way too many shows and movies calling my name. Marriage and maintaining a home and relationship also require a good amount of attention (if you have any sense at all).

And I'm currently unemployed again.

I would truly like to make this time period as productive as possible. I have a number of creative projects I could be working on at any one time (including this blog), but it just feels...harder. The last seven years have shortened my attention span, and I am doing what I can to fight this urge for distraction with discipline.

Every day is a battle between these two D's. If I'm able to sit myself down in a chair with some light music in the background, I find I can make myself write for at least an hour. And then the pull comes. The urge to see what's on YouTube. To read through the Facebook wall. To see how many more "likes" my art has gotten on Instagram. To waste my time with the million of entertaining but meaningless actions that will do little to further my career or finances. Or just take a walk to remember there is an outside world.

During my first stint as an unemployed human, I still had hope that one of the screenplays I was writing could sell and make me a professional writer. Since then, I've worked in the film/television industry, and have learned what it takes to get even a minor-budget film made. With learning how the sausage was made went my appetite for the meat. I have not lost confidence in my scripts, just the ability to get anything produced that isn't branded IP or stemming from the mind of a bankable actor or director. There are so many avenues to get content shown, but so few to earn actual living wages from.

When it comes to art, despite enjoying the process of making and completing a piece, we are in an economy where few people can enjoy the luxury of buying art (even art as inexpensive as mine ;) ). So what's left to inspire a creative person to discipline themselves as strictly as is really needed to be successful, when the hopes of monetizing ones creativity becomes more and more remote?

I guess you got to love creating more than playing Words with Friends. It certainly reaps greater, longer-lasting rewards than landing the word "spewing" on a Triple Word tile. Though if I could get a $1 for every point I got in WWF, I would be happily retired by now.

How do you discipline yourself when trying to finish a project? Please don't say Adderall.

No comments:

Post a Comment