Get up and go to work

A couple of days ago it was Stephen King’s birthday. First: happy birthday to the patron saint of goth kids everywhere! I feel a straight line between him and the music I loved when I was young.

And second, how great is this quote of his?

Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration; the rest of us just get up and go to work.

And I just wanted to use this thought as an excuse to send a little encouragement to anyone out there who’s ever suffered what feels like writer’s block, or stuck-ness, or dissatisfaction with your process.

I know it can feel sometimes like the muse isn’t with you; like you aren’t receiving the vibrations you need to be receiving.

But what if I told you that you could summon the muse? Because — you can. I can tell you this because I know from watching Shannon over the years that it’s absolutely possible.

Here’s how Shannon does it: when it’s time to write, she goes up to her studio and she writes.

Does that sound shocking? Strange? Not nearly ceremonious enough by half? It definitely seemed weird to me at first. Like … you just go write songs?? How do you do that?

But that’s why being an artist is Shannon’s job: because she treats it like a job. She doesn’t sit around the house waiting for lightning to strike; she goes upstairs and starts rubbing sticks together. And, after some amount of time, there’s fire!

So, if you’re feeling stuck: go unstick yourself. It isn’t magic, any more than developing a daily exercise routine or a journaling practice is magic. It’s just a little discipline. It’s about doing it not just on the days when it feels easy, but on the days when it feels hard.

And on the days when you finish up and you haven’t done your best work, it’s about giving yourself grace, letting it go, and committing to get back at it tomorrow. This isn’t a one-day thing! So shake it off. It’s great to have a stupid, unproductive day. Getting that out of your system is as valuable as the days where everything is flowing — the one makes space for the other.

And ps: don’t think for a moment that if you’re not a songwriter I’m not talking to you. This goes equally for the engineers, and the producers, and the mixers, and the conductors, and the arrangers, and the instrumentalists, and anyone else who does creative work. Some days you have it, some days you don’t so much — and the people who do well in their careers tend in my experience to be the people who simply keep showing up day after day, year after year, and putting in the work.

Me included! Not every day mixing is my best day. Still, after all this time. But that’s okay; if I didn’t nail it today, I’ll most likely nail it tomorrow after a break and some rest. We’re playing the long game here.

Trudging the road of happy destiny — jamie