Creative Block: It Never Gets Any Easier

So we meet again. Every artist contends with creative block regularly. No matter how long you manage to escape its grasp it inevitably catches up to you. It can range from a minor annoyance to a crippling sense of doom and anxiety. This is not an essay about how to beat it. Only you know how to do that even if only subconsciously. Besides, there are more than enough articles on the internet all cribbing the same lame tips from each other on how to beat this monster. Instead of advising anyone on how to overcome it I just want to talk frankly about how it feels and reassure you that it will pass. Yes, I’ll share some ways I deal with it but there are no cures. It’s an illness like the common cold. A virus we’ve contended with for ages that we have no cure for but know that we can and will recover from it given time and some rest.

The cause

Everyone has a different trigger for their block. Sometimes it’s nothing at all and that’s the worst kind. For me it was a combination of working on too many projects in short succession and taking on a new project that was so large in scope that it became overwhelming. Light Casts Shadows, the multimedia concept album that I’ve been turning over in my head since May 2022 has grown out of control. I know the vibe, I know the story… generally but I don’t know how to pull all of the various threads together to create something sonically and aesthetically appealing. It got to the point where I simply could not work on anything anymore. All the joy of creating art was sucked out of me. I worked in short disconnected bursts. I’ve been aimless. This just hasn’t been working out.

A Solution

I don’t have a cure but I do know how to make the pain stop. I decided to shelve the project. This is the third project in two years that I’m shelving. I plan to come back to it but am unsure when I will. I need a long break from trying to come up with this insanely huge and sprawling project. I don’t have the experience or skill to properly execute on many aspects of the process. So I’ll be going back to being a student of art for a while. I fully expect to not release any music for a long time while I prepare for this next project. I’ve taken the pressure off and I’m going back to basics. I’m writing music for fun now. I’ll be cranking out a ton of work (not for public consumption) to keep myself sharp and to keep experimenting until I’m finally ready to get to work on a project I will be proud to release.

Creative block sucks. It can be as bad or worse than a bout with depression. But you don’t have to force yourself to create something you know will be terrible because you said you would. Better to be motivated and excited for the work you’re creating than to put out soulless art that just takes up space in your back catalog.

So that’s where I am now. I’ll be doing a lot of things and releasing some but the project that’s blocking my creative flow is one I’m putting aside until it’s developed enough for me to see it through to completion.