BOOK / ARTICLE:My boyfriends mother, who is an extremely talented, often galleried artist, had mentioned this book a few months ago and I couldn't believe I forgot to share. It's called Daily Rituals by Mason Currey, and it explores how different creative visionaries like Beethoven, Hemingway and B. Franklin (among others) started their day. Sounds simple, right? But Currey looks to these different artists and found that this was a cored theme--if you want to be most creative, most productive, you need to set rituals for yourself. If it's waking up at 5:30 am to work on that inappropriate kids book you've been writing (...ehh...working on it), writing your memoirs, or what have you, you can train your brain to be more creatively productive if you give it some sense of a schedule for output. It's not a self hep manual to be the better, more creative you (opiates, martini lunches and walking around naked, while they may have worked for past greats, they aren't a road map). Some things, however, do stand out: work in the AM, don't give up the day job (you're more creative with it), take walks, stick to a schedule, learn to work anywhere, and perhaps a bit controversial, practice controlled substance abuse (yes, coffee counts).
Go forth and create!
SITE: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/05/daily-rituals-creative-minds-mason-currey
