When she was younger, Allison Moorer used to believe that she wanted an intellectual existence, a life of the mind. But now, at 42, she sighs, “What I’ve realized that I have is a life of the hands—I’m always just making something, or I’m writing or drawing something, because it makes me feel connected; it makes me feel real. It’s the same way with music—I just want to make it.” Hence, her latest ambitious set, Down To Believing, which documents her recent split from her husband, Steve Earle, and even the motherly guilt she felt when their son John Henry, now four, was diagnosed with autism two years ago. Moorer will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new feature on her.
Moorer: My friend Rose turned me on to this wonderful book, which is one that contains more than 150 entries on the rituals of artists of all sorts: writers, painters, musicians, playwrights, composers, sculptors, etc. I have often thought that if I wasn’t organized then I couldn’t get anything done, and that thought, at least for me, is right. Some artists operate more like mad geniuses, with their things flung everywhere and jumping from this to that, but I cannot concentrate without a somewhat clear space and more importantly, a plan. I need to do one thing at the time, and make room for those things in my day, lest I start to feel scattered, distracted and, ultimately, taken off task.
I’m glad to have found out that I am not alone in my quest for an orderly way of going about living a creative life. This delightful book reveals habits and idiosyncrasies that make perfect sense to me.
Some people create in the morning, some in the afternoon, some at night, but it seems that all the artists profiled here had or have a set routine filled with work, things that make them comfortable, a distraction or two to set the mind free and set the stage for more creativity (sometimes drugs or alcohol) and a lot of walks. What was most interesting to me were the women profiled who had or have children, of course. Sylvia Plath said, when struggling to stick to a writing schedule, “From now on: see if this is possible: set alarm for 7:30 and get up then, tired or not. Rip through breakfast and housecleaning (bed and dishes, mopping or whatever) by 8:30 … Be writing before 9 (nine) that takes the curse off it.”
That takes the curse off it. That’s a whole other thing to consider, isn’t it?
My own rituals vary, because I do so many different types of things. But I do have them, some secret, some not so. I long for them and the comfort and organization they bring to my days and my life.
Thank you, Mr. Currey, for this very pleasing collection. I do wonder what your rituals are. Unless I missed it, you did not include yourself in your book.
Video after the jump.
