Starting a new song or project is usually the most exciting and intoxicating part of the creative process for me. Once I feel like I’ve got a good idea for something and I start to explore all the directions it could go in I feel like I’m in a realm of infinite creative possibility and it is a truly engaging and compelling space to inhabit. I’m not sure how other creatives engage with this part of the process, but for me, my biggest problems come directly after this initial creative bloom, because I feel like I could actually do almost anything with a given idea and become paralyzed by my choice.
Of course this is a familiar psychological rut that people get stuck in known as “Choice Paralysis”. Go to a restaurant with 100 compelling things on the menu and see how quickly you crumble into a sputtering anxious mess (or is that just me?). Some people alleviate this problem but placing limits on certain aspects of their creative projects, I.E how many instruments they will use, or how many layers they will use in general. I’ve been unable to dig up the actual story but I remember hearing at one point that Jack White was producing an album using only instruments and gear made before 1950, which is a certain type of super-hipster limit I suppose.
Generally, I don’t set hard limits like this, because I am waaaay too good at coming up with reasons to break these restrictions. For me, I honestly need to just put my head down and remember that I’ve gone through this process about a million times. I have to have trust in my own process and be able to see the totally non-linear process of creativity through to the end, even at the stage when my “song” consists of a pile of about 15 different parts that are just kind of haphazardly arranged and barely different from each-other.
Something that has helped has been trying to formulate goals for a song beforehandhand, These are generally not like “MAKE THIS ONE A GOOD REAL GREAT ONE WOW”, but more of kind of words that I’d like to hope the overall texture of the song achieves. I generally mix these with kind of overall goals that I want to achieve with my music at this stage in my life and feel like I get a little bit better at achieving what I want with every new post.
How do other creatives feel about this? I know a lot of people suffer from “writer’s block” but the opposite has usually been the issue for me. I’d love to hear more!
