Herbert Lui - Creative Doing

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Herbert Lui

Whether creative work is part of your full-time job or personal passion, a few simple and powerful tools can unlock a unique creative process that works for you.

Rachel Jepsen, Editor

Bernice Liu, Illustrator

Holloway

Copyright 2022 Herbert Lui
All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

This work and all associated content, such as online comments and discussion, do not constitute legal or tax advice in any respect. No reader should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any information presented here without seeking the advice of counsel in the relevant jurisdiction. The contributors to this work may not be licensed in your jurisdiction. They and Holloway, Inc. expressly disclaim all warranties or liability in respect of any actions taken or not taken based on any contents or associated content.

Published in the United States by Holloway, San Francisco
Holloway.com

Cover and illustrations by Bernice Liu
Cover design by Order (New York) and Andy Sparks
Interior design by Joshua Levy and Jennifer Durrant
Production by Nathaniel Hemminger
Print engineering by Titus Wormer

Typefaces: Tiempos Text and National 2
by Kris Sowersby of Klim Type Foundry

Print version 1.0
doc 8bad05 pipeline 1bc509 genbook e99c90 2022-05-13

Like many people aspiring to do creative work, I wasnt born into a family of artists, or into unearned income that would enable me to pursue my art full-time. I didnt participate in any talent shows, Ive dealt with years of underestimating myself, and I wasnt taught how to be creative in school. I wrote, and rewrote, this book not because Im a creative genius revealing a secret, but because it was the book I needed to read.

I have been obsessed with the mystery of the creative process for over a decade. Successful artists had figured out how to do great creative work. Why couldnt I?

I sought out every chance to find an answer. In the first half of the 2010s, I pored through academic literature, biographies, and memoirs. I interviewed prominent recording artists and authors on their processes. I seized every opportunity I could to ask people about their creative processes and for detailed examples of what they did to make their work. I immersed myself in a study of each individuals creative process itselfthe observable parts of ideation, creation, and release.

Creative work sounds simple enough (Just make stuff!), but it can feel painful when you dont know how to make sense of it. For many years, I experienced a version of the creative block that might sound familiar: numbness. I wrote at a media company, started an editorial studio, and supported other peoples creative projects with marketing. I felt I had to suppress my true creative urges in order to make money. I tried my best to make it work.

Because I had so little time for the creative work I wanted to doto write and express my own ideasI became completely attached to the results I could attain. I wasnt practicing, I was pushing. After months and years of this struggle, I realized that I was missing a piece of the puzzle: my own creative purpose.

Finding my creative purpose involved letting go of every impulse and habit that made me successful at my work projects, and shifting my focus away from results into the process. Process is about consistently making time and energy to practice every day, rather than intensely pursuing a creative project and then burning out, falling out of love with it, and becoming resentful. Its about creating a lot of work that meets a standard I set for myself. Theres a chance you probably feel the same way I did; that throughout each day, the thought comes to you, Im meant to do something, and its not whats in front of me right now. What does it mean when you find yourself creatively blocked? What if that wave of inspiration never comes, and how are you supposed to know how long to wait? What if you cant get started, or begin but dont finish, or are always too busy with everything else?