How do you balance creative work with other responsibilities?

Originally asked

The Creative Independent, to working artists, its interview series

The Creative Independent repeatedly asks working artists how they divide time between creative practice and administrative, family, or second-job obligations.

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

Recorded Pete Rozelle said elsewhere, not written here
It’s difficult. You really have to do it as best you can. Because your family is important too. You can’t be so totally absorbed that you are not involved in their activities as well. So, I tried to divorce the two as best I could.

Rancho Santa Fe, California, Academy of Achievement, 15 May 1991 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 16 →
Richard Ford Novelist and short-story writer
Well, I make the magic wherever I can. I don’t know if that’s conscious or accidental.
Recorded Travis Holland, Interview, Fiction Writers Review, 11 April 2011 source ↗
Adam Zagajewski Poet and essayist
Generally, my hours are during the first part of the day; hardly ever in the evening. The hours nearer noon, the zenith of the day, are good for working.
Recorded Svetlana Gutkina, Culture.pl, 2019 source ↗
Cheryl Strayed Author of Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things
There are many times for three months in a row I wrote every day, but there are also many times for three months in a row I didn't write a word. What I found is I make an appointment with myself and I don't look at each day, I look at the calendar ahead.
Recorded Marie Forleo, MarieTV, Marie Forleo source ↗

More from Pete Rozelle

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Question Which book are you ashamed not to have read? Taste & recommendation
There really wasn’t. That’s one thing I kind of regret. I started reading, and became interested in reading very young. But I read sports books. I read sports pages and newspapers. That’s one thing that I would like to have had that I missed, reading more scholarly books than I did. I was so devoted to sports.
Recorded Rancho Santa Fe, California, Academy of Achievement, 15 May 1991 source ↗
Question What keeps you awake at night? Daily life
Because of my love for sports, and the nature of my job, it was pretty intense for 30 years, and you have to be sure. I would take it home. My wife would know when things were tight, and she would hear me get up in the night, and walk around and sit and think. It’s not something you can leave at the office.
Recorded Rancho Santa Fe, California, Academy of Achievement, 15 May 1991 source ↗
Question What is the most important lesson life has taught you? Time & hindsight
It was a very simple thing. It was a church camp, I think. I was there about two or three days, very young, and I just remember some counselor telling us that reputation is what people think you are, and your character is what you are. So if you have a bad reputation, you might as well have a bad character, and it pays to have a good reputation and a good character.
Recorded Rancho Santa Fe, California, Academy of Achievement, 15 May 1991 source ↗
Question What is the thing you are best at that nobody watching can see? Craft & work
The main thing is trying to be patient. Be sure to give them a chance to speak to the issue on both sides, and so forth. Then I would have a policy of taking straw votes, and seeing how close it was to passing, if I was trying to get it passed. And if it won by one or two, then you might recess, and then talk to those one or two, and see if they have changed their vote.
Recorded Rancho Santa Fe, California, Academy of Achievement, 15 May 1991 source ↗
Question What problem are you still trying to solve? Craft & work
I think it’s probably a natural, adversarial position between a commissioner in any sport and their players association, or union. I was very concerned about this problem. I wanted to be sure that we were clean, so I set up a testing program. Their union took it to arbitration, and got it softened a great deal. So now I will be criticized in the future for drug incidents, yet I was unable to execute a testing program that could stop it.
Recorded Rancho Santa Fe, California, Academy of Achievement, 15 May 1991 source ↗

More on daily life

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Ursula K. Le Guin, Ada Yonath, Ja’Tovia Gary, François Ozon, Adrian Scarborough, Cheryl Strayed

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