Tag Archives: the creative process

When we think about the Creative Process, we typically think about the more positive or at least productive aspects: visioning, execution, decision making, consideration, experimentation. These are all skills that are the focus of classes at school and in furthering our professional professional development. This is critical knowledge for us creative folk.
But what of negative aspects of the creative process, the one’s which on the surface don’t feel as if they are productive: failure, discouragement, procrastination, justification? They all factor into how ideas move forward (although some may make us feel as if we’re moving backwards – or want to give up all together) and should be embraced as skills as the aspects listed above.
As this collection of thoughts expands through these blog posts, I hope to explore all of the aspects of the creative process and certainly welcome the input of friends and strangers alike to help me elaborate on them.

I think procrastination needs to be lumped in with everything else that makes up the creative process. It’s important to recognize that sometimes we need to not think about something in order for that something to churn around in the back of heads. Some people work best under pressure, or think best in the shower; whatever the case may be if you are aware that you are procrastinating when you should be doing your work its not necessarily a bad thing.

The text below is taken from an interview with Jason Schwartzman Fresh Air about writing the theme song to Bored to Death

On writing the theme song for Bored to Death

“This is an embarrassing story, and one that I feel terrible about because it will expose me as a low-key liar. But I did it and I brought it upon myself so I’m just going to come clean now. … I was finishing up a film, Funny People, that I was acting in that was taking up all of my days. And I was supposed to be writing the song, and every week I would get an e-mail from people at HBO saying, ‘How’s the song coming?’ And I would just say, ‘Everything is great,’ even though I had nothing written. And I would quickly invent something that I had written, and describe something, like, ‘I’ve come up with this walking bass line; I think it’s very right for the song,’ and they’d write back, ‘Great. Can’t wait to hear it.’ … Basically, I lied for a month on the fly about what was in this song, musically. Then it came time for me to submit a demo, and not to seem like a liar, I went back through all of my sent e-mails and saw all of the things I had said were in the song, wrote them down — and then basically to fulfill the lie, I wrote the song based on every fib I had e-mailed. And I wrote it in 10 minutes.”