Tip: Write lightly

The creative process doesn't flow if you clutch it with a death grip. In your creative space, practice being lightweight and easy.

Try out this slogan: "This creative process is important. But today's output, what I actually create today, doesn't matter."

The fastest way to get bogged down by writer's block is to worry about how your work will come out. Will people like it? Will it be good enough? Are you really a songwriter, or are you just kidding yourself? These and similar worries are likely to come up while you're writing, but these worries have nothing to contribute to the creative process. They just get in the way. So set them aside and get back to writing.

If it helps, you can take a sheet of paper, and write at the top, Things I Will Worry About Tomorrow. Then each time a new worry comes up, actually write it down on the list. If that same worry pops up again, just tell it, "It's okay; you're on the tomorrow list. Today is the day for creating."

If you do this, be true to your word. Take fifteen minutes the next day, go through your list of worries, and decide if you need to take action on any of them.

In the heart of your creative process, you should aim to be almost weightless. Then you can interact with the most subtle flows and delicate breezes from the world of inspiration. If you're free from pressures and worries, you can tune into these tiny, invisible forces and translate them into something solid and tangible for the rest of the world to see.

So pack lightly!

Thursday is Tip Day for the Unruly Beast.