Or it doesn’t.
Let’s take writers as an example. They are considered as a lone person who writes in her spare time. And is scary because she dedicates a lot of time alone with her thoughts. And that thinking can be scary.
Among all that – she has to scrub almost all of it. And somehow glue together which becomes a book for you to read.
When I was listening to the interviews of many famous directors who are writers – the thing that came again and again is that they wanted to write the best. So, they rewrote a lot of the writing. Which translated into many more hours of sitting alone. And often the inspiration or words doesn’t strike. So, you are looking for ways to just complete it.
And maybe once it’s done – only then you can think if any of the words make any sense. Or if you are like most of the authors, you write and put the garbage to your editor. And she sits with that for even longer time to make it something which can be read.
In essence, you vomit and your editor finds the nutrients and makes a food out of it. Gross, it may sound – but that’s what the best editors do.
The Breakdown Of Time Spent
But that’s a misconception that the time spent by writers is lonely. Because they don’t simply write. For a 40,000 words book, you have to write 10 minutes every day for 40 minutes. That’s not at all lonely or scary. And when it’s put into this perspective, you realize the time spent in writing is a small amount.
However, what to write is the most important question. Often, there is research involved, casual reading, life experiences and so on.
When a writer writes, it’s often a result of her full life’s experiences being put into words. It’s like the famous example – once Picasso is eating at a restaurant. A fan comes and ask to draw her. Picasso draws her in a minute on a handkerchief and asks for a million dollars. She is shocked – why a million dollars for a few minutes of his work. Picasso replies – it took me all my life to draw in 5 minutes.
Fake or fiction or real – it doesn’t matter. This story illustrates the point – the writer’s or anyone’s creative process is a culmination of her full life.
Community Means Multiplication
Sure, doing your creative thing alone is the point. And that is the pride. But you can’t do anything from scratch. Whatever you do has already been there – you put your life experiences into it.
Dance has existed – you put your flavor into it. You didn’t invent the steps nor the style but you take it forward.
Creative things is not doing something new but to keep the art alive. You take it from someone who came before you and now it’s moving forward.
As such, you can take help or collaborate with others. Because as a creative person – that’s the point. You do things for others. You write to move others, dance to entertain and sing to make people relax.
So, try community thing with one person or more. It might not work and that’s okay. But if it does, you will find that your creative work is enhanced by so much. A group of dancers can do an individual can’t. They can dance like an individual but also can make shapes which an individual can’t alone. So, it’s a enhancement when you work together.
Also, you can leverage each other’s strength to make your art even more successful. The burden can be lessened and rewards can be multiplied.
We All Are Connected
When you think about it, we all are connected. And that’s our superpower. We aren’t the best in anything individually but together interacting and collaborating, human species are the best.
We can achieve anything. In collaboration, we have gone to the moon and back. And that’s something which has happened only because of community.
So, take yourself for a spin – try working along with someone, in a community perhaps.
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