Setting a Time to Create
My favorite radio talk show host--Dennis Prager--arrives in my studio every morning at 9:07 AM (PST), Monday through Friday. My creative inspiration, on the other hand, arrives whenever it wants. Inspiration is undependable, surprising, and interruptive. I cannot schedule my most actively creative moments.
Even so, I get up nearly every morning, long before 9:07 AM, and get to work. Creating is work. Whether I am writing first drafts for a new book or article, editing words scribbled a few days ago, or doodling illustrations and cartoons, I get at it in the morning. Sometimes I am listening to Dennis Prager as I draw or answer email. When I am wordsmithing, I play music without lyrics--so Sondheim doesn't sneak into my paragraphs. In those moments I tape Dennis Prager for listening later. (Have you tried to purchase a combination AM radio/cassette tape recorder lately, in this century. (They’re as rare as a Republican on the San Francisco city council.)
Many mornings I start with soaring, symphonic music (try Aaron Copland's "The Promise of Living" section from his Suite from the Tender Land -- that will get your spirits flying.) I dance around the studio in my loft, doodle a bit in my sketchbook, and just start writing. Often I write long hand, always with a 
fountain pen, and eventually on the old Mac. Most days I say out loud, "Time to make the donuts!"
Inspiration can not be forced, but it can be encouraged. I believe you can jump start your passion by just starting to do what you love. Prod, poke, get busy. I've been doing it for years, even though I know that a good bit of what I write might not make it into print. My most recently published book, Raised in Captivity, had a manuscript of forty-four stories. The finished book is just over twenty. Writing the others was important on the way to discovering the ones that became the final manuscript. As a writer, visual artist, creator of anything, you must be prepared for the fact that a lot gets "made" that is preparation to the final work. And, a lot is practice, breaking in a new drawing tool, or just thinking "out loud" in lines and syllables.
My good friend Susan Kennedy (a.k.a. the ebullient author, SARK) said it best when she told me one day, "Every time you write, something valuable comes from it."
Waiting for the muse, the creative tooth fairy, to pwang me with the magic dust, doesn't work. We must get to work on them donuts. 
I do get visits from the muses, a lot. They never contact me in advance to make an appointment. But I am ready whenever they show up.
That is why I always carry a sketchbook with me everywhere--for more than thirty years now. Even on a quick trip to the market. Just last night I ran out for some milk and the Sunday paper at 10:40 PM (I like to get it Saturday night.) I was in the hall, headed for the stairwell and realized I did not have my sketchbook with me. I went back and got it--to take with me to my local 7-11, a one mile round trip.
Just in case a dream comes through, I want to catch it. So it is that I have taken to calling my sketchbook my "dream catcher." It's not meant to be cute or clever or even artsy, merely descriptive. As I am always doodling and fountain penning in public, folks see me working away and ask, "What are you doing?"
"Dream catching." I say. Their curiosity turns to quandary. Then I let them thumb through my dreams. They giggle, read and ask questions--especially on pages with lots of words that seem to be random notes and thoughts.
"I catch a lot of stuff in here, not just creative dreams."
At a page with a sketch or cartoon the reaction is always the same--they smile, then frown and sigh, "I wish I could draw."
This launches me into my two minute "you-could-if-you-tried" speech. I give them my business card, pointing out my blog site, and direct them to search all posts marked with a ( > ) in front of the title. (Most posts are preceded by a bullet ( • ). These ( > ) are the posts with the creative exercises in my ongoing series Between Reason & Recess. I also tell them about the secret blog site with all those posts (exercises) listed together. You can go there too if you are a new visitor and want to start at the beginning post, "i know a place."
All this is a part of my core belief that everyone is born with a creative spirit and if we look we can see the value in every life--Assume Brilliance ©.
A key element to this is that I know anyone can learn to draw--even for fun--if you just get up in the morning, put Mr. Copland on the juke box, do a little dance, and start making the donuts.
~ McNair
>Exercise: Try spending 15 to 30 minutes at the beginning of everyday, for one week, creating, playing, doodling, writing...in your sketchbook. Just jump start your imagination. Even if it means going to bed thirty minutes earlier to get up that much earlier. [ Add five minutes if you need a good cup of hot tea to kick start the jump startinging of your imagination.] Try this for one week and then let me know--in the comments section below--what happens when you set a time to create.
Remember, it doesn't matter what you doodle or how it looks. The important matter is doing. If every sentence has to be perfect, or even just right, then NO sentence can be right. Play, have fun, make some crooked donuts!
