For more than two decades I’ve been honing the scheduling around my creative practice. And I’ve been helping book clients and others do the same. As a novelist, visual artist, and coach, I’ve had to learn the magic of transition from helping others to working on my craft. I’ve had to figure out the best schedule for my creative energies on a daily, monthly, seasonal, and annual basis. And as is the case with novel-writing, I’ve had to find the balance over a series of years.

I’ve had to switch between clients and my own creative practice, and I’ve had to learn how to move from novel writing to visual art and back again. 

How do we find the time we need to wonder and wander and fill the creative well, when we have family obligations or a full-time job? (No one can create with an empty creative well.)

How do we switch from the left linear brain to the right creative brain even when we do have some extra time?

How do we manage a long-term creative project like a novel? I tell clients novel-writing isn’t a sprint, it’s a triathlon that lasts three to five years!

Here are five steps that have worked for me:

1. Vision Comes First
Start with the vision of the project. Spend days or weeks envisioning what you want to create. I have to “dream” the novel or artwork to create it. Start with soulful exploration. Explore other artists and writers. I just finished my middle grade novel BLUE and for two years prior to writing it, I devoured delicious middle grade literature. How can you envision your project first? Create a vision board. Look through art books or online at great artists’ works. Inspire yourself. This is especially useful if you feel your creative well is dry.

2. The Beginning is the Hardest
For me, starting a novel or a new piece of artwork is the hardest part. I need the vroom to get started. I get myself revved up by first focusing on my biorhythms. I’m a morning person. What are you? Where do you find you have most energy and focus during the day? The hardest work of structuring a painting or a novel comes first thing in the morning when I’m fresh and “on”.  In fact, I find when I first wake up, I can do in one hour what takes three hours if I wait to tackle it in the afternoon. If you can, schedule errands or money-making work during the times of your day when you have less energy. Conserve your best most beautiful energy for your own creative work. This can take years to set up. I’ve spent decades transforming my schedule to focus first and foremost on my own creative process. Be creatively selfish. I give you permission.  

3. Scheduling is Crucial
This is huge! A consistent schedule for your creativity is the single greatest factor in determining your success, especially as a novelist. Work at the same time and on the same days each week, week to week, month to month. I schedule clients around my own consistent art/novel time and not the other way around. That tight consistency helps me get a lot done (5 novels, 4 published, hundreds of paintings). Three days a week of three hours of creativity each day seems to be the sweet spot for most people.

4. Posting is Fun
Don’t let social media override your creative practice. Schedule it at the end of the day. I love sharing my work. What is the story of the painting or the novel? What is your creative process? Use social media, blogs and podcasts to share the love. I believe our creativity inspires others especially during these times.

5. Blocks are Creative tooWe all have blocks. Sometimes debilitating ones. You might have read the first four points here and thought: That’s all fine and good, but what if I can’t even get myself to do anything creative. I have a trick I use with clients. Take that block and paint it. Take that block and give it to a character in your novel. Take that block and write a self help book about it. Use the block. So if a parent was shaming, do an abstract painting where you put colors to your feelings. Finger paint it. I often give characters my blocks. In my middle grade novel BLUE, I have a little girl who is scared to tell the world what she sees as a mystic. This is definitely a block I’ve been working with for a long time. Use your block to own the block, explore the block, even love the block. 

Studies show that creativity decreases anxiety and depression. We need creativity in our lives. The more we structure it into our days, the more joy we can feel and express, especially in these difficult times.

I love coaching creatives. Contact me if you want to set up a session.

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COVID NOTE:
A reminder that I’m now doing in-person healing sessions in my Oregon yurt, using tarot, shamanism and energy work. Please note that COVID distancing and hand sanitizing using organic sanitizer is available. Contact me if you’d like to come to the yurt, or if you’d like to work remotely. More info can be found here on my website. 

Big loves
Caroline Allen
Novelist, visual artist, coach
carolineallen.com
Award-winning author of Earth, Air, Fire, Water
info@carolineallen.com