Breaking through creative barriers isn’t always easy, but sometimes artists have deadlines
By Lyndsaye Ruda
With an artist, there is no such thing as a balanced schedule. I’ve never known any artist (of any type: film, word, pictures, music, etc) who is able to successfully create on a schedule. Art cannot be forced.
I have always had a difficult time with my own creative outlets. I go through phases where I cannot write, only draw, then I’ll go through phases where I can only paint, and nothing else gets accomplished. However, there are times I sit down and let my brain fart around until the creative juices take over. It’s the best way to break down a creative writer’s block, so to speak. Just write. Just draw. Just paint. It may turn out to be garbage, but it will allow you to push through that wall that has been preventing you from getting to the good stuff.
In addition to internal barriers there is the external force that goes along with it. I work full time in a demanding industry at a very strategic and proactive company which requires an exhaustive amount of energy and motivation. By the end of an eight hour (sometimes longer) work day, the last thing I want to do is draw, or write, or paint, or film. I usually need some recovery time. Top that off with housework that needs to be done, homework for my classes (master-level courses), and taking care of three sets of mouths that need feeding, legs that need exercising, minds that need activating, and I don’t even have children! I cannot image what that would be like. Two cats and a dog are enough for me!
My down time usually consists of tweeting my dearest friends online (most of 
which I have not met personally), whilst enjoying a good BBC show on big cats, or a movie usually featuring Robert Downey Jr. or, these days especially, Tom Hiddleston.
Do I get everything done that I need to? Why yes, I do. So long as I have a time frame for it, or a specified deadline, it will be completed in time. No deadline = no promises. It’s not that I’m not motivated without a deadline, it’s just that I get a lot of requests for things to do, so I prioritize based on what needs to be done first.
How do I do it?
That’s a good question, actually. There is no formula. It requires balance, and life is never perfectly balanced. Some things wait. The dishes don’t always get done every week. Sometimes they wait a few extra days. Sometimes I sleep less (not the best idea, but I always find the time to catch up on my rest). Sometimes I Skype chat with my Twitter friends while I clean the house or work on an art piece. Sometimes I ask my husband to watch the dog for the night… actually, I usually do that… And sometimes, although as a last resort, I need extensions.
I am busy, yes, but I put that pressure on myself. I have an active mind, so I try to keep it occupied. In the last two years I have grown as a person and have experienced so much. I like to keep on my toes, and I enjoy the rush of completing projects, doing research, learning something new, making someone happy, and creating something interesting. That’s just my formula for my own motivation. I can’t tell you how to come up with one for yourself. You have to figure out your own fomula.
Images also by Lyndsaye Ruda.
Wragsthinks 