Tracked Creative Output Challenge
Over the last 3 months (12 weeks to be exact), I decided to track weekly creative output. I have now completed the challenge and I thought I would share my thoughts on the process and journey.
The challenge involved four creative outputs a week. A written composition, a Max patcher for my website, a blog post for the website and a Live Takes recording and upload. I had previously been uploading a weekly Live Takes video for the last 230 weeks anyway, but I wanted to add to it. I knew through the success of uploading a weekly recording meant I had to do something creative. Pushing through what Steven Pressfield call’s the resistance in his book The War On Art, is a challenge all of us creatives face.
Creative Output Tracker for the challenge.
The Live Takes recordings continued as usual. This process has been fun and while I think the future might bring about a new form for my Live Takes, it has been a great exercise in writing and experimenting with process. The uploading of Max patchers for educational purposes is something I have always been interested in continuing, since my days of sessional academia at Queensland University of Technology on that topic (amongst others). I believe these resources are a great starting place for people and just a fun way to continue my development in Max patching. The weekly blog post has allowed me to get back into writing. You will note that most of the posts have been reasonably short, but the platform to write about topics that interest me, helps express my ideas. This was the hardest one to achieve most weeks, as it was the most “mental workload” for me. The written compositions are always a challenge I have been coming back to on and off for years. I have many journals of written scores, experimental instructions, electric notes and directions for pieces. These mostly take the form of Fluxus style compositions and works that are experimental and interpretive in nature. I have included one below as an example. The best ones will be published in another format later this year (watch this space).
Week 7’s experimental composition Tamborine Composition
The journey has been fun. As this sort of process goes, each individual work might not be the greatest piece, but the body of work as a collection is powerful. It forces me to develop my skills and continue my creative development. I would colour in each of the marks on my tracker and feel a sense of accomplishment. Colouring in that purple “Complete” box filled me with pride. Seeing all the works as a full body is powerful. A good kind of addiction to creating more work. If you decide to go with a similar concept, I have some advice for you. Firstly, latch onto a creative idea as it comes. After weeks of writing and composing, you would have found some weeks challenging to come up with new ideas. So when something strikes, take a note of it immediately and explore later. I also recommend to write one or 2 at the same time if the inspiration strikes. Some might see this as cheating, but I think of it as being strategic. Let the creativity flow when it does, so if it doesn’t later, that is ok, and you have a back up. If you write other things to replace it, that is ok too. Also, keep it fun! This can be challenging at times. Remember why you are doing this. Fo the fun of art and your development. I have decided to continue for another 12 weeks to see how I feel after that. In fact, this blog post will be the first of the uploads of blog posts!
