On a blog called “A Nickel’s Worth,” Scott Nickel did a 20-question interview with cartoonist Jerry King. When we feel too precious about creativity, it’s good to be reminded that people like King exist. He says,
“I can easily do around 10-15 cartoons a day. However, I work at home, and my kids are in my office all day, so I don't get as much done as I used to. I'm selling around 200 cartoons per month.”
Yikes! What’s more, the ones I’ve seen are funny. He says he never worries about running out of ideas.
I think a lot of creativity is about your state of mind. If you think you can have only one creative idea per day or per week, your mind will make sure that's the truth. If you think you can have 10 per day, your mind will make sure that is true.
I think I've told this story before, but I used to think I could write only a few hundred words a day. One long weekend I set out to break that limitation. I decided to write an entire screenplay in four days. I did it,too--it was a terrible screenplay but that wasn't the point; it was a success because I realized that I wouldn't die or even faint if I had to write dozens of pages per day. It removed that internal limitation. If you find yourself limiting yourself, maybe a similar exercise will help.
(for more tips on how to be more creative and productive, sign up for my free monthly Brainstorm e-bulletin. Just send an email request to BstormUK@aol.com)
