Bleed-Over

What does progress look like? Is it checking off little boxes on a checklist? More words on the page than what you started with? More minutes spent on a particular project?

It is usually a subjective designation, but I have found in my short time here that progress is much sneakier than it seems on the surface.

What I’m talking about is the strange way, when we (creatives) are so damn focused on one thing, say writing a song or a story, we never see the whole picture. We aren’t meant to, of course, because we’re so focused. That focused determination on one thing causes a little phenomenon I like to call “bleed-over.” This is when you’ve worked incredibly hard on one thing so much, and even if this thing is your magnum opus or a complete dumpster-fire, when you pull away… you begin to notice that things have changed.

Projects that don’t have anything to do with the current one now have strange little stains on them, and like some kind of weird Rorschach test, you can kind of make out strange and wonderous new possibilities that you couldn’t have seen before. I don’t understand the psychology or magic of how this works, but it has started to happen with me all the time now. It’s a form of abstract synergistic creativity that I didn’t know existed, and it kind of freaks me out.

In a good way.

I’m one of those that tries to work on multiple creative projects at once, feeling like I have to have a hand on everything all the time. Burnout is a constant companion with this method, so I do not advise going down this road, friends. This is a habit I am starting to tamp down. It seems working on one thing at a time has benefits across the board.

So, while it is important to track progress, don’t let it become a prison of your own creation. You need to focus on creating what you love, not binding yourself in the process.

Be kind to yourself, hydrate, get some sleep, and love what you’re doing.