hangoverI have a writing hangover: bloodshot eyes, sore forehead muscles from furrowing my brow, a papercut from the cardboard jacket on the coffee cup…. I stayed up all night working on deadline, but the experience (as usual) proved educational.

I picked up a very large job with a new client in early December, and the first major deadline was this morning. I’ve had a seat to start this project no less than 6 times over the past week, but it just wouldn’t come. I need some kind of an epiphany about the angle of the copy — something that would allow me to use their facts and figures but transform them into compelling reasons to join their association.

I want very much to make the argument that I WAS NOT PROCRASTINATING! The ideas had to simmer, percolate, evolve, escape… whatever. This is frequently me my strategy, especially with a new client. I spend lots of time thinking about the project: while running, in the bath, as I fall asleep, driving to the post office. I mull and mull and mull, and something usually comes to me that helps me pull the words together.

But last night was THE deadline. I could no longer mull. I had been mulling all week, and I had nuthin’. I needed to send her the email that she would be able to open this morning.

So, last night I forced the “aha” experience. By 11 p.m. I identified three potential angles for the copy, and I used them on different sample web pages to see which approach she likes best (we’re meeting with her team in 30 minutes). I already received an email from her this morning, and she said she was happy with the first review. Whew.

The fact that I pulled this off makes me wonder: AM I just procrastinating? If I can glue my fingers to the keyboard and force a creative moment when the deadline is critical, shouldn’t I be able to do it that way each time? Why give the ideas time to evolve? Just force them out!

Frankly, no. I have come to the realization that the idea incubation process is still my favorite way to create. Here’s why:

  1. Working under pressure like that is stressful. Very stressful. It costs me sleep and causes weight gain. Last night after dinner I ate a bowl of cereal, 3 slices of cheese with edges so hard they crunched, a sweet potato and (why, I ask you?) almost an entire package of Ralph’s Real Turkey Bacon Pieces.
  2. Some of my best ideas really do just crystallize. It’s like I keep an idea in my pocket to reach down and fondle throughout the day. I squeeze it, poke it, warm it with my fingers. Then it starts to shape. Sometimes it’s an “aha.” Other times it’s just “ahhhh.”
  3. I need to think past what they already have. When I take on a new client, it’s usually because they want a fresh perspective and a new approach. If I force myself to look at their existing copy and create something from what they have, I don’t think I’m giving them everything they’re paying for. Their existing copy influences my end product, and we miss out on the new ideas that might happen if I think of approaches when I’m not staring at the computer.
  4. Perhaps this is an ego thing, but I just don’t like the idea that I’m simply a machine that processes words. I’d like to think I do add value and creativity, and my process lets me do so.

Where does your creativity happen and how? Can it be forced? What happens when the inspiration hasn’t arrived but the deadline has?