In regard to creativity, I’ve heard people say, “never throw anything away.” I disagree. I say throw it away. Throw craploads away. I’d have a closet full of legal pads and cassette tapes if I’d never thrown anything away.
Whether I’m creating music or working on a book idea, it’s mostly practice. Over the years I’ve come to throw out less of my writing, but now I’ve scheduled years of writing to go into digital wasteland. I made backup files, but those will likely get tossed once I glean and reuse some of the best writing.
As for music, about half of what I create musically winds up in the garbage, especially the electronic music I’m currently producing as Anderhill. I can’t count the number of times I’ve spent hours on a piece only to hit the delete button.
Throwing our creative work away can be a hard pill to swallow. But it also gives us a fresh canvas. Sometimes that’s exactly what we need. Sometimes we’ve grown as an artist and have new ideas.
Next time you’re working on a creative project that doesn’t seem to be working, don’t be afraid to throw it away. Don’t give up. Just start fresh. – dse
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