Creating on a Schedule
Some Thoughts on Greatness by Obi Okorougo
I just finished reading a chapter in the book Henry Miller on Writing titled: “Work Schedule, 1932-1933.” It is, essentially, Henry Miller’s expanded “to-do list” for that year. It’s inspiring for a few reasons. But before I explain why, let me first share his “Commandments”:
COMMANDMENTS
1. Work on one thing at a time until finished.
2. Start no more new books, add no more new material to “Black Spring.”
3. Don’t be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand.
4. Work according to Program and not according to mood. Stop at the appointed time!
5. When you can’t create you can work.
6. Cement a little every day, rather than add new fertilizers.
7. Keep human! See people, go places, drink if you feel like it.
8. Don’t be a draught-horse! Work with pleasure only.
9. Discard the Program when you feel like it—but go back to it the next day. Concentrate. Narrow down. Exclude.
10. Forget the books you want to write. Think only of the book you are writing.
11. Write first and always. Painting, music, friends, cinema, all these come afterwards.
He then goes on to detail a Daily Program (broken up into Mornings, Afternoons, and Evenings), a Major Program, a Minor Program, a Painting Program, and an Agenda. By all accounts this man was prolific (which seems to be a quality shared by all of the most notorious creators.)
This chapter was a cool reminder that nobody stumbles upon greatness. You’ve got to work at it—calmly, joyously, recklessly.
. . .
Some Sweet Henry Miller Quotes:
“I didn’t have to think up so much as a comma or a semicolon; it was all given, straight from the celestial recording room. Weary, I would beg for a break, an intermission, time enough, let’s say, to go to the toilet or take a breath of fresh air on the balcony. Nothing doing!”
“Imagination is the voice of daring. If there is anything Godlike about God it is that. He dared to imagine everything.”
“The ordinary man is involved in action, the hero acts. An immense difference.”
“There is nothing strange about fear: no matter in what guise it presents itself it is something with which we are all so familiar that when a man appears who is without it we are at once enslaved by him.”
“An artist is always alone—if he is an artist. No, what the artist needs is loneliness.”
“Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music—the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.”
. . .
What Life Would Sound Like If Things Were Perfect:
Tagged: obi okorougo, Tagged: schedule, Tagged: creating, Tagged: writing, Tagged: greatness, Tagged: henry miller
