Process - 006
"Risting Glacier, South Georgia” Pastel Drawing in process by Zaria Forman
I. Everything Is Process
Last month, I closed the Refrigerator with the spirit that we are always changing: “Change Forever!” It’s been a helpful reframe. "We are always changing" means that I don’t have to worry about defining what I am in this moment; or worry that the definitions I set are permanent. I’ve been sitting with the idea that there is an ongoing process of change to everything we do and are. This moment, this day, this week… is all part of a process. However slow, everything is moving.
Basically it’s the antithesis of “it is what it is” because “it” is constantly developing. And not just nature or cities or the world. But each of us. We evolve. We become, we unbecome, and become again. We are always becoming something new.
That’s the process, and everything is going through it.
This month, I’m exploring processes. Happy snacking.
Painting by Ru8icon aka Jeff McCreight
II. Invisible Processes
Throughout my career, I’ve written scripts and headlines, websites and commercials. I’ve written blog posts, epic emails, and journal entries. But I’m not a trained writer, so I always feel like I’m learning. One of the most challenging things I’ve learned about writing is that the process is invisible.
To the non-writer, all writing looks the same:
words on a page.
Writing, by its nature, hides process. When I read books and articles, I don’t see any of the work involved– in the word choices, in writing 50 headlines to get to the one decent one. Or the rewriting of the end joke over and over until it’s not funny anymore, and then one last time so it’s the funniest thing I’ve ever read. Writing is just words on a page.
The process is hidden because it's ugly, it's messy, and full of struggle. It’s imperfect and it’s unclear. The writing process makes the writer look stupid or silly because rough drafts are by definition incomplete. There’s still work that needs to be done and sharing something incomplete often gets criticism as if it’s final. It’s like posting a selfie first thing in the morning, knowing that people will judge you in comparison to people that have spent hours to look their best. It’s not sexy or glamorous to look unready, sharing unpolished and finished work– especially when WE are the product.
When you extend this idea of invisible processes beyond writing and into everyday life, there are major consequences for hiding process.
On social media and across the news, we see at celebrities, world-traveling influencers, and award-winning actors and assume that they’re rich and successful without working. That there’s no process, thought, planning behind their success. Most of us assume that it just comes naturally–they were born talented and driven and gifted at making perfect and amazing things.
They benefit from hiding the process. Process is hidden to make it seem like polished, beautiful work comes easy. THAT is sexy. To be so naturally talented and smart that you don’t need to work at anything. What you’ll rarely see is the struggle, lack of inspiration, or bank account worries; the "I feel stuck" or lonely or like an imposter. All conveniently hidden.
But the truth is EVERYONE struggles. Everyone has off-days. Everyone feels like an imposter. Everyone that is good at something has put in work. Everyone that is successful has had struggle to get there. Everyone worries about money sometimes.
Seeing other people’s messy processes makes us feel normal. When process is invisible, we size ourselves up to experts and that can be demoralizing and demotivating. I compare my blog to Seth Godin’s, my op-eds to Ta-Nahisi Coates' and my personal stories to Elizabeth Gilbert’s. I’m comparing my final drafts to their final drafts and I suck.
Actually that that’s not what’s going on here...
I’m comparing my rough draft with their final draft. Of course I suck!
Wait, I don’t suck. I’m just comparing the wrong things. It’s not “I suck.” It’s more like “my work sucks.” And what I don’t realize is that it’s not done yet. What I should be doing is comparing my first draft with their first draft. Imagine reading "Eat Pray Love" or "Between the World And Me" when it was a shitty first draft. Those books took years to write, and they weren’t immediately and consistently great.
Process is universal. Struggle is normal. All work gets better, but only if the author endures the struggle of process. The process of writing (and of life) is not knowing what comes next. The work takes time to sort through the bad stuff, pick out the gold, learn from mistakes, shift mindset, be open to new directions, follow an idea even if it leads to a dead end. Process is messy.
We judge ourselves too harshly for not being complete when we’re exactly where we need to be, doing exactly what we should be doing. We shouldn’t compare our work in process (or life in process) with someone else’s finished draft.
We still have work to do.
We still have a process to struggle through to get to great. To get to done. To get to our own definitions of success.
That is the work.
The book “On Writing” by Stephen King is a great reference for learning to write better. Not just for habits, help, and philosophy of writing,
but in the last few pages, you can see King’s shitty first draft of an old story and see the work that goes into it. Thank you for sharing your process.
III. The OG Creative Process
The creative process has always fascinated me. The idea of putting structure to something so abstract and undefined seems impossible. One of the more interesting ideas about the creative process I uncovered came from an unexpected place– the oldest creative process.
“The Machine Man” Pencil Drawing in process by Arinze Stanley
IV. The Process of Evaluation
We give our essays to our teacher to grade. We put our art on the wall for our class to critique. We call our friends to show them what we’re working on to get feedback. We let other people tell us if our work is good or not.
This is the one step of our process where we can improve fastest and we avoid it. I wrote all about how to get better at evaluating on Medium here. Take 3 minutes to read it or bookmark it for later.
V. Conclusion
Lorne Michaels famously said of Saturday Night Live, “The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready, it goes on because it’s 11:30.”
This was the most challenging Refrigerator to write yet. The irony of writing about process isn’t lost on me. It took me a lot of writing and rewriting to get here, and I still wish I had more time. I don’t think it’s perfect (I rarely do) but I’m committed to improving my thinking by improving my writing and sharing regularly, even if it’s not perfect.
Ready or not, It’s 11:30. Time to go on.
Thanks for opening the email Refrigerator this month. Hope it made you see something in a new way.
As always, if this sparks something for you, just respond.
Jake
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