I recently had a discussion with a writer friend about creative process. I know a lot of creatives who subscribe to the "draw x amount of time a day" or "write 2,000 words a day" in order to stay creative. I don't understand this philosophy.
If the whole sole purpose of creating is bringing forth something from within yourself - Dealing with a past trauma, releasing the stress of your 9-5 job, family stress or whatever the case may be - How do you force it? Furthermore, why does it have to be in any said format? Personally, I spend about half my waking hours thinking about projects, stories or ideas. On the average day, I will sketch or draw for about 20 minutes to an hour. On a good day maybe two hours. That's what works for me. Beyond that I spend my day doing graphic design at my day job and working my freelance on the side. This fills my personal creative need.
There's this ego-driven "If you don't do it at least this much a day then you're not committed" nonsense that I see being preached from almost everyone in the field, professional and non-professional alike. Now if you're making art to pay your bills, I think you have to be more of a machine about your output levels. But you can't force it if you are solely pulling from within and your motivations are more personal than financially motivated. There are things you can do - meditate, run, read or things like that to improve your free-thinking but to create these parameters of what validates your ability as an artist is so egocentric.
So, create when you feel it, be true to your own personal expectations and goals and don't get caught up in what everyone else says. It's something I struggle with daily as I travel through this life trying to figure out what role art plays in it.
