I’ve hit a few potholes on the road to writing anything fresh here or anywhere for most of 2011. And this even with inspiration I gained from listening to other presenters and attendees at the wondrous ASMP SB3 weekends just concluded. I had been driving a mental Rolls Royce down a street paved with ideas for several years since I got into the habit of writing for Dreamstime and then my book on Microstock. But now my brain is the mental version of a yard car. Parked with grass growing up between the tires. WHY have I run out of gas and what lesson does this have for creative people everywhere?
Your brain after a mind numbing job.
First issue to attack when facing a creative slump is to analyze what created it. As I struggled to understand what happened to cause my creative brain to turn to cement, I read a post on Colleen Wainwright’s blog. (Highly recommended whether or not you are brain dead). Colleen had written even though it was financially rewarding, she had figured out that mind numbing jobs are not worth it even if it means giving up new iPhones and other items of desire. A-HA! In an instant I recognized the problem. But the problem with the problem was that it was helping to fund some of my items of desire-such as heirloom tomatoes and health insurance.
Nevertheless I resigned from a writing gig where I felt that my client was over thinking my writing, unwisely editing and finally, not allowing me to do what I was hired for—to make them more successful in an online world where corp-speak is a virus that can spread mind freeze to author and reader alike. I quit the day after reading Colleen’s post and wrote about it for the ASMP Strictly Business blog.
Today after six or seven weeks I’m back at it…with a lesson for all photographers and other creative peeps: Jobs or clients that drain your soul are not worth it even if you need the money. They may help feed the wolf at the door but in the long run, the damage to your confidence and creative being may be permanent.
*see feeding wolf at the door above
Photo licensed from bptakoma on Creative Commons license for attribution
Excellent advice, thank you Ellen. It’s so tempting– especially in this economy — to just swing at everything. But your words are a reminder that if you keep your eye on that perfect pitch you may just hit it out of the park. Thanks for the reminder. I needed that today.
In spite of the Flickr/Creative Commons image, your writing does not seem to have suffered at all judging by this well written blog post!
I too can identify with your message, so I do thank you for this reminder as well.
You have the track record of a winner!