What is Your Creative Process?

I often find myself thinking about the great endeavors that I want to encounter in the future.  Recently, I have discovered that one of my passions is writing. I have been a writer my entire life without realizing it. Being a musician, I have written songs, entire albums, soundtracks, and short stories as well. The creative process can sometimes be intimidating to the writer.

Enter Neil Strauss, 7 time New York Times Best Selling author is interviewed by Timothy Ferris, the author of the 4 Hour Workweek. In this interview, Strauss shares advice bout time management, his routines, and how he goes about his day-to-day process of writing. 

One of the principles discussed was the art of draft writing, and understanding that the first draft of anything is usually horrible. Strauss quoted Earnest Hemmingway in saying, “ The first draft of anything is usually s***. “  Strauss also covered how he handles his time management using apps like Freedom, and Net Nanny, These applications monitor and block his usage of the Internet on his computer. This keeps him on task and not easily distracted.

I learned a lot by just watching this video about the creative writing process. I learned the importance of using a new literary agent when trying to find a book deal. A literary agent will step in and negotiate with retailers and other companies on your behalf. They also usually have a built in network and working relationships with these companies. This takes a lot of the guesswork out of trying to shop your book for a publishing deal. Strauss and Ferris both said that it is sad but true; publishers are only interested in your platform. This means that publishers are interested in your ability to sell at least 10,000 copies of your book. If you can prove this, you will get a book deal. That is why many books have been birthed out of blogs and Twitter followers.

In closing, I find the entire book industry to be quite fascinating. Writing a book is definitely on my bucket list, and I hope to achieve this goal very soon after graduation. What tools do you use for your creative process? Are there any apps or websites that you would recommend to help people with their creative process?

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Strauss

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2013/06/14/tim-ferriss-interviews-neil-strauss-7x-new-york-times-bestselling-author-on-the-creative-process/