August 3, 2004
thanks, everybody
My “How To Be Creative” list was the most talked-about meme in the blogosphere in the last 24 hours, according to Blogdex, Popdex and Daypop. Though I have a feeling Subservient President will be overtaking me later tonight. Heh.
Thanks to everybody for stopping by. Thanks especially to the folks who linked to me on their blogs. Wow. It really spread like wildfire. I’m still a bit stunned. I still have no idea why the meme went crazy like it did.
I’ll try to answer or discuss further as many comments as I can over the next few weeks. Looks like I’ll be busy.
I intend to write a lot, and I do mean a lot more about the whole creative thing. And I’m still drawing the cartoons as much as ever. So if you’re new to this site, I hope you’ll bookmark it, maybe add it to your blogroll, and continue to come back often.
And just for the record:
1. I tend to use the word ‘creative’ loosely. I may be an artist, but I don’t think that artists are necessarily more creative than plumbers, for instance. It depends on the artist, it depends on the plumber.
Right now the closest thing I have to a definition of the word ‘creative’ is “That place where work and play are indistinguishable.”
2. I am more interested in the subject of how one remains creative, how one retains one’s humanity, within the confines of the rat-race, far more than I am concerned with the subject of escaping the rat-race altogether.
Rather than quitting my current job to go off and do something ‘creative’- write a novel, open a bed & breakfast in Vermont, start a scented candle mail-order business, whatever– frankly I’d prefer just to keep on finding new and creative ways to get more from the job situation I already have.
3. You can be a good artist and have state-of-the-art equipment. You can be a good artist and have lousy equipment.
The same is true for non-good artists.
4. I am right about “The Sex & Cash Theory”. I am so right it scares me.
Thanks again. Seriously.
I think you really hit a nerve. Who among us, working as we do for The Man, hasn’t dreamt of unleashing that enormous dangerous-but-creative cyan wilderbeest that slumbers within us, but is too fearful of the havoc it will wreak in the dainty patisserie of our life? Thanks for some tips on taming the wilderbeest (or at least providing some hints for its care and feeding, and guidelines as to the cleaning of the eclair stains of despair from the trousers of the soul).
When someone who doesn’t work a day job tells you that you should escape Corporate America, quit your day job, and go pursue your creative Muse, it’s easy to ignore. When someone who works in Marketing tells you that all of your excuses for keeping your crayons put away are lousy, it’s much harder to ignore. That’s what makes the site fascinating for me, at least.
I think that all bloggers desire to be creative. They wouldn’t blog otherwise. That’s my theory for the meme explosion.
Thanks for the great site.
Keep up the good work. I do like your comics.
cheers,
airhole
I’ve feel like I’ve joined the Church of the Gaping Void.
Seriously though, I think you’ve hit on some sort of underlying truths that haven’t been “penned” (‘scuse the pun) before, or at least very well.
Just like “13. Never compare… practice your craft… spiritual rewards… if your path never makes any money… still worth.” I had that exact “AHA!” moment come over me last week– it took fourty years for me to get it, but it happened.
Is it serendipity that I read it here tonight? Who knows, but it’s got me scratching my head.
You’ve definitely struck a chord. Good work.
Now do like all good churches do and pass the offering plate!
classic topic and great illustrations. it doesnt suprise me at all.
nice job.
subservientpresident is lame. what you’re offering is so much more beneficial and substantial. sounds like BS but i think it’s true.
AJC is right about bloggers: we blog because we want to create. What makes blogging such an attractive idea is that it is non-perscriptive: create anything. And because whatever is created is published, blogging validates that creation to its creator — it becomes real and they are therefore creative: ‘look! I made that, it’s mine’.
I started blogging earlier this year largely to get me used to writing regularly again. It’s working too. And making a difference to my non-blogging activities — how I write, think and much more besides.
It is about confidence: one thing Hugh is saying is there is no reason why you shouldn’t have the confidence to create (see his point 6). Just as the act of blogging itself validates what a blogger creates on a blog, Hugh’s meme is validating people to create in the first place.
I feel a post coming on…
liked your cartoons a lot! Not to mention the post which I have trackbacked on my blog.
Cheers,
Raj
It was a well-written, common sense essay that happened to reach people who mostly work and create (their weblogs) on their off-time, many of whom (like me) deal with the sex & cash tug of war every day.
What I really liked about it is that it stopped my continual excuses dead in their tracks (“if I just had more time or no pesky day job I’d edit the novel, shoot the film, pull out the sketchbook.”) Also made me admit I’m more productive when I’m working for cash — makes me want the sex even more.
So thanks. You are in my Kinja digest.
Marvellous journey. I did think the idea of a blog ‘meme’ was a pretentious way of smug A list bloggers saying ‘Look at me, how clever I am’ But actually this one worked.
You’re my office hero! And of course, your art can’t be beat. By the way, is it okay to say you remind me of Callahan in your sense of humor? Or does that warrant a flogging? It’s a compliment in my book, I assure you.
You know, the whole thing you wrote about friends not liking change and hating when you succeed is so right. For years I was writing but not going anywhere. I landed a column for moviepoopshoot.com and did some interviews and have a few other bites out there and the happier I got, the madder and more bitter my friend/roommate got because she hates her job and most of her life. I guess I knew why but never thought about it, but I think you hit the nail on the head: our friends hate it when we succeed.
Also? Your drawings rock!
Alex Proyas (director of I Robot, Dark City & The Crow) has a nice few lines about being creative as well. It also underlines your Sex & Cash Theory a bit (in his case it was music videos).
check out http://noctos.blogspot.com/2004/08/proyas.html
ps your trackback doesn’t seem to work for some reason with haloscan?
I found your “How to Be Creative” through a link at Collin’s Fizzle and Pop blog. It really hits the nail on the head! My “day job” aka Cash, is in a creative field already, but sometimes you forget and it just seems like the daily grind.
What I do http://suspensionofdisbelief.net/2004_05_01_
look for the 5/21/04 post
Thanks, hugh, for these entries. They’ve hit the nail on the head, and I came upon them at the right time — a fork in the road where I needed inspiration and direction. There are many ways to be creative and many reasons, too.
I can’t remember where I came to them from, but I’ll be sure to add you to my blogroll.
One other thing — if the author of the ‘most talked about meme in the blogosphere’ can’t give up the day job — then why should the rest of us? Not that you want to, like.