Craft & work

Do you rely on inspiration or discipline to make work?

27 answers answered between 1985 and 2025 one of 4 from The Creative Independent

Originally asked

The Creative Independent, to working artists, its interview series

A repeated Creative Independent tension, asked as inspiration, muse, discipline, ritual, or the requirement to show up.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Add your answer

On the record

Public figures who have answered a question like this elsewhere. Quoted from the source shown, not written for FLAPSS.

Esperanza Spalding Bassist, singer and composer
I don’t remember which writer said this, but in an interview, a prolific novelist was asked, “Do you write only when you’re inspired, or do you write all the time? Do you wait for the muse, or do you just kind of knock it out? You can just sort of spin it out?” And he said, “Well, I do wait for the muse. I write when the muse comes, but fortunately she shows up, like me, every day at 9:00 a.m.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, San Francisco, California, 13 September 2014 source ↗
Tiler Peck Principal dancer, New York City Ballet; choreographer
Well, you’re right, I think the hard work definitely paid off. My grandmother drove me three hours to dance and three hours back from age six to age 11. I would do my school work in the car on the way there and then get home at like 11 o’clock at night, five days a week for many years. My training was seriously intense, and nothing came easy. I worked for everything I’ve ever been given.
Recorded The Talks, published interview, 6 July 2022 source ↗

0 answers from members

Nobody has answered this one yet.

More on craft & work