It’s easy to go batty when you spend day after day holed up in the studio. I’m not complaining, it’s a great problem to have, but I definitely need to make time in my day to do something other than work. When I’m stuck, or when I want to break up the monotony, or when I want to procrastinate, I pick up my guitar for a few minutes. It’s a wonderful reset button.
Here’s what’s been on heavy rotation in my studio at the MacDowell Colony:
Bowie, Ziggy Stardust and Rebel Rebel (bossa, Seu Jorge version)
Galaxie 500, Oblivious and Tugboat
Jens Lekman, Tram No. 7 to Heaven
Neil Young, Cinnamon Girl and Cortez the Killer
Beatles, Every Little Thing
Villa Lobos, Prelude Nos. 2, 3, & 4
Satie, Gymnopedies No. 1
Tarrega, Lagrima and Adelita
Logy, Partita A-moll
(You can hear me playing some of the classical pieces on the Music page.)
I’ve also fallen in with a few musicians, Alex the nonfiction writing uke player, Cindy the painter banjo player, and Christian the poet guitarist. We play mostly old school country. I kind of follow.
(Cover photo by Peter LaMastro.)
Jane Deschner
I just get in a zone…work, work, work. For me, the solitude is addictive. Then it ends and there’s that tough re-entry into the “real world” again.
David Licata
I’m always envious of visual artists for this. Though film is surely visual, it’s also aural, so that means I can’t listen to music while I’m editing (some folks can, actually). This is a big thing. And certainly, when I’m writing I can’t.
Do you have anything on the horizon?
Robert
While I love the researching and writing process (esp. the writing), if it is non-fiction I am — essentially — writing FOR someone else. When I write fiction, it’s the one place/one time in my entire life that I feel that I am in control. Whether anybody ever buys anything I write or not, it’s a wonderful feeling. And the hours zoom by. It’s like being in a trance (except for the occasion back pain from being hunched over the keyboard too long)!
David Licata
Ahhh, that trance state: one of the big reasons we do what we do.
I never thought of non-fiction as writing FOR someone else. Enlightening. Thanks.
Trust all is well,
D.