Putting a time limit or deadline helped a lot, but the big one was just deciding things will never be perfect and allowing myself to move on.
Seth M Baker´s last blog ..How to Make Creative Inertia Work for You

I’m not a musician, but can imagine that if I did write songs, I’d go through a similar process to you. I think any creative endeavour disappoints just a little, because the *thing* produced (song, poem, story, painting) can never completely match that *ideal* concept in our heads.

Best of luck with NaNo! I did it in 2007 and it was a great experience. At least NaNo comes with a build-in finished date, which definitely helps with focus and a sense of completion. Hope it’s a fun journey for you — perhaps the start of a novel-writing career?

That was because U2’s process in making their music was completely free flowing. Most musicians usually write the song first, then find the instrumental parts that they want to add such as guitar licks or drum fills, and then they record that as pristine as they can. But U2, if they come up with an idea *after* the entire song has been recorded (and even after the whole album has been recorded as is being prepared for mastering), they go with it. They bring out the gear and break out the equipment, even if it had already been stacked away neatly before.

But, they *are* U2 – they have a huge creative team behind them to support them. I suppose having a support team can allow you much time to focus on the creative aspect of your craft, if that is what you do.

I feel the same when producing my own songs – I have to give it a due date or else I’ll keep coming back to it and wanting to change this and that. Even to this day, after I released a song on the net, when I hear it there are still some elements I would like to change or add. I’ve heard confessions where fellow musicians keep a song on hold for 3 years! Because they keep going back to it and never putting a limit to when the product should be out.

Reading this article is quite in context for this month for me. Because this is my first time doing NaNo! So the things you’re saying in this post Ali, well I’m applying it to my writing

Cheers for good thoughts,

Glad you’ll be taking some time off; I had a few days’ break between full-time work and freelancing, but a longer break would probably have been better for me. Finding a rhythm takes time, and it’s easy to launch in a bit *too* enthusiastically…

Have a great final couple of days of cubicle living — and have a great (and no doubt well deserved!) break.

P.S. I was thinking this morning how much I look forward to Weds and one of the reasons is Aliventures shows up in my “read” folder for Wednesdays!!

Glad your year’s been productive! Actually, it’d probably be a bit dismaying if each year was *less* productive than the previous one — if you peaked in your 20s like a footballer or mathematician — so I guess it’s good that it’s been the best…!

In the same way, not all days are created equal either.

And using a set task list just doesn’t work for very long. I’m good for about a week using any particular tool or technique, then I have to find something new. On the other hand, I can cycle back around in the future and reuse techniques that stopped working for a while.

Currently, I’ve been going at it pretty much 7/12 since I got back from Burning Man this year (really since about June 1). Overall, I’m pretty cool with it. Yeah, I missed the summer, and I’m missing surf season right now, but I’m learning and making progress. It’s been the most productive year of my life… at age 48.
Dave Doolin´s last blog ..My Eyeballs Are Bleeding – And How I Write Thousands of Words Every Week