Creativity – Dan Steven Erickson

Life Back on a 40-Hour Work Week

Acadia National Park – Photos by Dan Steven Erickson

I’m going to be honest. I’ve only worked 40-hour work weeks for about 3 years of my entire adult life. That’s right, I mostly worked part-time jobs in my teens and twenties. Then I went back to school in my 30s. Then I became a full-time college professor and worked about 30 hours most weeks.

It wasn’t until my stint with the USPS, advising at VolState, and now Cabela’s in the past two years that I’ve really worked 40-hours a week. Of course, if you go back to my childhood in a cult, I was working 60-hour weeks as a boy. I’ve done a lot of hard work in my life and I’m not afraid of it.

However, I’m a creative. And one reason I have been able to create such a mass of work in my life is that I’ve had the time to do that. My current situation allows me less time than I’ve had for creating than I’ve had in years. Not only am I working 40 hours a week, I have to drive 45 minutes each way. There’s another 8 hours taken up each week. Add things like shopping, doctors, and working on the condo and it creates a time squeeze.

Why did I take on a full-time job at 63?

That’s a good question. The answer is simple: for health benefits. I’m beginning to question if the time I have to put in to receive the benefits is worth it. There is also a secondary reason. I’m holding off on using my retirement savings a bit longer. And finally, I stay moving and active and social. These are all good reasons to work full time but until I’m 65? That’s something I am reconsidering.

This year I am able to work without my social security being tapped into. Next year I won’t be able to do that if I work full time the entire year. So, I’m considering moving back into part-time status part way through 2027. If I keep my income low by avoiding any major withdrawals from retirement I will be eligible for a healthcare plan at an affordable rate. I could continue working part time and maybe teach an adjunct class. Then again, who knows, maybe life will take another unexpected twist.

In the meantime…

I’ll keep creating. The process to complete projects is just taking longer. Although my studio room is mostly complete, I still need to update my audio. And even though I’m writing several lyrics a week, I have not yet been able to really focus on finalizing songs. I have been workshopping a “sound” for the songs but nothing is complete.

I’ll keep taking time outdoors and doing active things. Last week, I went to Acadia National Park. I’ll post more photos below. I spend quite a bit of the off-time I do get enjoying nature and trying to get in some exercise. That leaves me with even less time to create. It’s a bit ironic that the time when I’m supposed to have more time (after “retirement”) is actually one of the fullest schedules I’ve had in years.

Bear with me as I move through this chapter. My hope is that I’ll be able to get into the swing of getting some creative projects completed on the side if even at a slower pace. I will continue to produce work, it’s just a matter of time. – dse

True Sounds

I’m currently in the brainstorming phase of a new experimental music project, The True Sounds of Nashville. The concept is simple.

We all know Nashville as the Country Music capital of the world. But I live here and what I see and hear is not country music. I hear the engines of cars and trucks on overcrowded freeways and streets. I hear sirens. I hear the hum of AC units cooling large buildings. I hear factories, construction, and the chaos of multiple bands playing cover music up and down Broadway. I hear birds, rain, and thunder.

In the coming weeks and months, I’m going to start sampling the sounds I hear in and around Nashville. I’ll then manipulate those sounds and mix them with my own experimental ambient synths and pads.

I’m not yet sure if this will be an Anderhill project, or a darker, heavier sound more suited to A Cult of Lies. In either case, I’ll keep you updated on the project and a potential release date. – dse

Current Projects in the Works

So, I’m still stuck in Tennessee, but I’m making fair use of my time. I have a few projects in the works. Here’s the nuts and bolts:

Cult Boy: I did a complete rewrite of my book A Train Called Forgiveness. It’s been stripped back to a novella and renamed. I’m currently doing a final edit and will proofread once more after that.
Mercy, Mercy: This is in brainstorming mode. A potential novella about living through having a stillborn child. The book would have two first-person narrators, the father, and the unborn/spirit daughter.
1995/96 Songs: I’ve posted selections from my older song catalog up until 1994 on my YouTube channel. I thought my 1995/96 songs were already in Maine but I found them here. I’ll start posting some tracks in May. I might have to rewrite a few because I can’t find any recordings.
Glitsch: My new website for brutalist and glitchy poetry and photos and music. Check it out at glitcsh.com.
Anderhill: I’ve got a few tracks in the works on my iPad.

That’s it for now. I’m staying busy creatively. But I’ll also need to do some travel and other projects in the near future. – dse

Introducing G L I T C . S H

What is G L I T C . S H? It’s a brutalist, minimalist, and glitchy poetry and photography site. It’s a place where I’ll focus on poetic creativity. Here’s a short quote from the manifesto:

I believe that ERROR is the only honest data left in a manicured system. My lyrics are not typos but rather the intentional ruptures of a soul that refuses to be domesticated by the algorithm.

G L I T C . S H_ may have a simple and classic presentation, but don’t let that fool you. My poetry intentionally makes use of symbols, numbers, errors, stutters, and more. My photography editing blatantly erases the world as we see it.

The site will have both long-form writing series’ and a Machine Feed (blogroll) of individual poems and photographs.

The first long-form work is called Pentad.

PENTAD is a five-cycle journey consisting of 86 short poems. The first and third cycles have several chapters while the others stand alone. Instead of endlessly scrolling on social media, I invite you to come along on this journey of thought and reflection.

I encourage you to check out the new site. I’ll be updating the Machine Feed a couple times a week, and adding new long-form writing every month or two. – dse

G L I T C . S H

Big Life Update

Life is unpredictable. My move back to Maine is postponed.

I’m not happy about that but it is what it is. The lease is running out where we’re currently living and we’ll have to move locally sometime in April. My daughter will rent a place in Nashville and now that I’m not working, if I must stay in Tennessee, that will be much better.

I’ll be closer to Vanderbilt for my blood cancer specialist. I’ll also be nearer to music venues for performing, (if I choose), and attending shows. Maybe, I’ll even look for part-time work.

That’s the gist on the “life” side of things but I also want to address some changes in my posting schedule here.

I am going to post less often.

Recently, I reduced how often I post on my YouTube Channel. I’ve discovered that I really like that freedom. I’m also developing a new poetry website that will be much more of a static site than a “blog.” And that’s the direction I want to move here as well.

I’ll primarily continue to post news, new releases, and occasional poetry. I’m going to move away from feeling the need to post something just because more than a few days have passed. This new schedule starts now, so don’t be surprised if it’s a couple weeks until the next post. – dse

Glitch Poetry

A couple of days ago, I wrote a weird poem. It had some of the following elements:

Repetition
Coding Symbolism
Purposeful Misspelling
Dictionary Pronunciations
Words broken into Smaller Bits
Use of numbers

The poem was very short. That first poem led me to write an entire series of similar poems. I did some research to discover that I was writing “glitch poetry.” It also might fall into categories like anti-poetry and cyber punk.

Topics include technology, government, news, social media, sex, addiction; the individual struggle to not get lost in today’s overstimulated world.

Here’s short description of the 28-poem cycle I’ve completed:

I believe that error is the only honest data left in a manicured cis-stem. My lyrics are not typos; they are the intentional ruptures of a soul that refuses to be domestic-8ed by the algorithm. I invite the brave soles to stop scrolling, ignore the deaf socials, and enjoy the hum of a reality that is truly {RE}moved.

The project is still in the works. While I have completed the sequence, there is still editing and formatting that needs to be done.

The project started when I was studying how one might actually make a profit writing poetry. I hope you’re not laughing too loud. What I discovered is that the way one might make money as a poet is to create a brand and a specific identity behind that brand. That is what I did. Actually marketing and selling that brand is the trick. I’ve never cracked that code.

In the process, I’ve secured the website: glitcsh.com. The purposeful misspelling is part of the concept. My identity as the creator is not Dan Steven Erickson, but simply: POET. Because I could be anybody trying to survive in a world in which systems are stacked against us. The POET is the superhero, so to speak. The resolve is not to fight evil, but to simply walk away from it all, and in the end, to reduce the ego.

I have not decided when/if I will start the “Glitcsh” site and brand. Currently, my website hosting plan only allows for a single site. I either have to upgrade or return to a cheaper option.

I could start the series on this site, and I might. For now, simply stay tuned as I continue to work on the poems and make decisions on how to present them. – dse