You Aren’t Going to Get Caught Up !!! (thank goodness)
Why would you want to? It’s a terrible sounding thing: caught up. All bound and trapped and snagged in wires or cords or some kind of cow fence. Yikes amundo.
Don’t do it. Don’t get caught up. Write, now, using the time you have now.
Q., my artist friend said to me the other day, on our way to see David Sedaris, “I’m about to be caught up and then I’m going to get a lot more painting done.” I know Q. is a super genius, and of all people, he probably will get Caught Up and enjoy the binding but for most people—for me—we aren’t ever going to get caught up. It’s a Shangrai-La thing. Caught Up doesn’t exist. It’s not a place. It’s not a destination. You’re not going to be Caught Up or get it and be thankful for that.
When you’re dead, you are essentially caught up.
This is it. This is your life. This is how much time you have.
Adult life is filled with tasks that should be accomplished. This is how our days are. And if you aren’t getting your art made now, looking to the future for space and time is the opposite of a good idea. You must look at the available time for art that exists in today. Forget caught up. It’s not going to happen. There will always be more stuff.
In fact, as we get into the future, there’s more, not less, to do. The body becomes noisier and needier. The car gets noiser and needier, new people need new things from you, the world gets to looking more complicated, your kids have babies—it’s endless! Don’t look ahead for more time. That’s dead center ground zero exactly where less is!
Look to Now. (Eckhardt Tolle provides excellent instruction on this topic for writers.)
Pretend/assume/fake like this is how busy you are going to be for the rest of your life. Make art in the sliver you do have. Then, if you do get “caught up” you actually be free to work. Not bound. You’ll be able to expand a thing that already exists. That’s how you make time.
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