Baby Steps

This is a short extract from ‘THINGS I FIND HELPFUL’
– which I wrote, on 5.2.2020, when I was able to be up for only a couple of hours a day.

LET A LITTLE ART-SATISFACTION BE OK.

Especially if your time is severely limited, things will have to progress in baby steps.
Letting the first few baby steps be enough, when you are itching to see an end result, is tough.

Learning to live with the frustration of the cut-off time just is part of the deal, sometimes.
I suppose most people live with some version of stopping creative time before they want to.

Little chunks of ‘done’ begin to build into something substantial.
My wee-books have been a great demonstration to me of this, recently.

A little set-up here for gluing tomorrow, some shuffling of possibilities, one or two details carried out.
A statement of intention by setting out the ‘right’ materials for the next bit you know you want to do. Ready to roll, tomorrow.
They’re not hugely satisfying in themselves, but with my new acceptance of restriction, there’s a bit more faith in the baby-steps being worth doing.
Building a creatively productive rhythm, which lets the not-doing days breathe easier,
knowing your basic focus and intent is towards enjoying being creative, as and when you can.

x x x