Slogging!

Doing the work, (I am thinking of creative work here, but it could be any kind of work), you need to push through, carry on, prepare yourself for the time of slogging. Sometimes things just flow easily, inspiration descends upon you like manna from heaven, but you can't count on those times, you thank your lucky stars when they happen, but you know that that kind of gifting is not a given.

So you learn. Even if you don't feel well, you carry on. Even if inspiration is hiding, you carry on. The main thing is you carry on. You do the hard things first. Get them out of the way. If you are reluctant, want to put something off, that is the first thing to tackle.

And don't judge too harshly. Don't judge your efforts. Just carry on. Write it down. Put it on paper. Or play it, over and over. Record it. There will be time later to reassess, the review, to edit, to trash it.

Although so much work is about "feeling," don't let your feelings intrude. The work is actually more than what you feel, what you see, what you do. It's bigger than you. Outside of you. It's not an ego thing. It's a drop-your-ego-thing.

Slogging. It's necessary. And good. Really.

Soundtrack this a.m. - Wilco's "Summerteeth." Jeff Tweedy and the other "Jay" (Bennet). This is old Wilco. A bit looser, Stones-ier, funkier. Don't get me wrong, I love the later Wilco too. But there is something about some of those early Jay Bennet era Wilco records. More of the "fuckedness quotient" in the grooves. I am also a big fan of Ken Coomer on drums, a bit loose and sloppy with a big wallop.