Write, Rinse, Repeat
Why do you write like you’re running out of time?
I grip my Sony ZV-E10 camera tightly with both hands as I pan across a group of trees in one quick, swooping motion. A short jingle alerts that my video saved successfully. This clip will look so good in slow motion.
Being creative in pockets of free time has become a new life juice so energizing that coffee started to look weak. When I decided to publish weekly on YouTube and Substack, my friends worried that I would burn out. But I’m still creating because I made a decision:
I will not make masterpieces.
They’re overrated. It doesn’t seem so, because the internet is banger-city. Social media teems with articles, photographs, 30-second clips that resonate with the double-tapping thumbs.
It’s impossible to constantly create bangers. Great art is a culmination of repetition, of deliberate practice, of flight hours. Quality work is a result of showing up routinely, regularly, and doing the same thing I did the last time. Just a little bit better.
One day, one of my reps might become a masterpiece. Or perhaps they’ll all just lay there for the future to discover as a documentation of an ordinary life. Maybe my creative work can be combined, arranged, rearranged in certain ways to inspire what will be my magnum opus. Or maybe that will never happen.
With that pressure out of the way, I can focus more on art that is “easy” to make. Write essays that are 500 words long instead of 5,000. Create a painting that is postcard-sized instead of wallpaper-worthy dimensions. Making art doesn’t have to be a heavy lift.
When art is not meant to be a masterpiece, it’s a lot less intimidating to create. I don’t need to spend as much time noodling on a two-second transition in my video. I just publish what I think is good enough and move onto the next.
Once I get used to creating “lite” art, I can do it more often. That in turn makes creating even easier. The logistics of bringing around a camera and setting up the gear become more second nature, for example, so I can instead focus on framing my subject properly. Outsourcing bits of projects also makes creating a lot faster, so I have more time to create.
The beads of sweat running down my buttoned-down shirt let me know that I’ve been out in the sun long enough. My lunch break is ending soon. I take one last photograph of the trees.
Perhaps one day Adam the Almighty Algorithm will handpick one of my art pieces to go viral. Maybe photographer Peter McKinnon will compliment my pictures of the Hong Kong markets at sunrise. Maybe a neighbor will purchase my paintings. Maybe one of my essays will be featured in Write of Passage’s weekly newsletter. Maybe I’ll be proud of my work. Maybe not. I accept that as a part of my creative journey.
Through increasing the frequency and volume of creating, I am reaping all the benefits: having an outlet to express myself, scattering bits of my carved soul across the internet, meeting fellow creatives in online community corners. Exercising my creativity regularly also permeates through the other parts of my life. It’s as if I can’t get enough of adding a fun twist on something: experimenting with new cooking recipes, playing with new color palettes for my PowerPoint slides, and heck, even sprinkling in puns in my work emails.
I place the cap back on my lens and head back to the office. My creative lunch hour may be over, but the banger that is my life continues on.
Thank you to Write of Passage friends that help make this piece a banger in my books: , , , Justine J, Diana-Maria Demco, , , Philip Alves, , , and .
Update log:
📝 First week of essay editing for Write of Passage’s 11th cohort. I’m having so much fun with it, but I’m highkey feeling the shock from looking at ~3 essays a week to >12.
🌮 Made birria tacos from scratch. I could possibly have reached pinnacle cooking skill and it’s all downhill from here.
🎙️ Saw Sam Smith live in Hong Kong! And then MISSED them when they visited a local lesbian bar. My close friend texted: “BRUH NO WHY WERE YOU NOT THERE / THIS IS YOUR ONE MISSION AS A LESBIAN 😭”
👩🏻💻 Gave two workshops at work. I never sweated so much, but felt like a total corporate baddie.
😢 Had a really Heavy therapy session that has left me distraught. I asked for a non-scheduled follow-up. I’m hoping I’ll feel more like myself again after the session.
📹 On the YouTube channel: Don’t let proportions stop you from plein air
Thank you for this Becky. I'm taking a lot of nourishment from this tone you've just rolled out. I feel like you just invited me into your house for tea and now I'm more relaxed. Great perspective on creating our art. It's quite a counterpoint from the unconscious drive to create some epic, amazing or perfect work. It's as though we're imagining that we'd have to be a super-performer to find love and happiness, and we project all of that on the path of our creativity. But really, what most of us are really looking for is relationship. And human relationship is easily produced by being ourselves, being authentically good enough, and then we discover that perfectionism just doesn't need to be the driving force of our art. Sustainable sharing from a relaxed creative center can take its place. I really love this.
So good. Banger, for sure! 🔥
(And you made birria tacos?! Damn. Killin’ it!)