I’m sitting in my hotel room with the famous HOLLYWOOD sign staring back at me when I look out the window. Is it cool? Sure, of course it is, and especially when you live 2,500 miles away. I imagine that if I lived here and saw it all the time it might lose its luster.
And that’s exactly the point of this week’s blog.
Last month at this time I was in Nashville. And in between that trip and this one I was in Alabama at the Lake Martin Songwriters Festival. And next month I will go, well, you get the picture.
When you’re a creative there is always the risk of writer’s block or just plain old burnout. You need something fresh to inspire you. Could that be travel? It might be. After all, you don’t need to get on a plane and go to the opposite side of the country.
In Nashville there are songwriters who get in a room on a regular basis, trying to collaborate on new songs that they come up with either on the spot or on a spur of the moment in their daily lives. Even they need to get away at some point, though. When I was in Alabama, I heard how some of them had come there a couple months earlier for a songwriters retreat. So perhaps you look to see if there’s a similar combine happening that you can go be a part of; or, better yet, initiate one yourself!
Here in Los Angeles, there is plenty of inspiration all around, whether it’s the HOLLYWOOD sign, the stars on the Walk of Fame, or other glitz and glamour found on Hollywood Boulevard OR the off-the-beaten-path locations. TV shows and movies are being created here regularly. Or are they? Maybe they’re being created in the filmed sense, but the development could be happening almost anywhere.
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As seen in the accompanying photo, back home I will go to a condo at the beach from time to time and yes, I bring my laptop and my guitar with me. It’s a totally different vibe out there and really helps me not only re-energize, but, it just brings a much different perspective.
Even if you don’t have access to a place to stay, you can consider just having a beach day for a change of pace. Or invest in your mental health and stay overnight locally anyway, just to have different scenery, other stimuli, around you.
Here comes the warning that’s necessary in all this though.
Beware of the crash that occurs when you return home. Think of going to a conference and being all inspired there and taking notes and pictures of presentation slides and then going home and, boom. The buzz is over and you don’t act on those new lessons.
When you go somewhere like Los Angeles, Nashville, heck, Alabama, or even just to your local beach, find some creativity but do some soul searching too. What behaviors can you change to create new routines for yourself? They say you only have to do something for two weeks for it to become a habit. Isn’t that small of a time investment worth the return you can get as a result?
If you plan out enough of these little getaways, it can also help motivate you in terms of deadlines. The day after tomorrow I fly back to Tampa, but then four weeks later I go back to the airport for my next trip. That helps with, “I want to have this project done before then.” Maybe in your case it’s a song written or recorded or whatever target you can set for the art that you create. It’s in some ways similar to how I know I always have to have a new episode of my weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast ready for release every Wednesday.
So, where will you go for inspiration?
Tell me on Twitter via @NHT_tweets. Or, share it with me in a post on Facebook or LinkedIn. Alternatively, send me an email instead. And if you need more than just a place to go for inspiration, take advantage of my more than 15 years working with indie artists around the country by booking a private, one-on-one, online video consultation with me and let’s get you pointed in the right direction.