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10ish Ways to FIGHT Writer's Block
Metadata
- title
- 10ish Ways to FIGHT Writer's Block
- description
- A Reddit listener asked how to stay in the creative zone; Luke runs through his bag of tricks — garbage-in-garbage-out inputs, abandoning ideas on purpose, master-bus experiments, and why tempo changes belong early, not late.
- status
- complete
- date
- 2022-06-06
- kind
- solo
- guestSlugs
- —
- listenUrl
- https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lovemusicmore/episodes/10ish-Ways-to-FIGHT-Writers-Block-e1jbgac
- appleUrl
- https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/10ish-ways-to-fight-writers-block/id1567355195?i=1000565360677&uo=4
- spotifyUrl
- https://open.spotify.com/episode/5TPpxf0ouNUNv9I2TypTBz
- topicsDiscussed
- Classical and orchestral music
- Creativity
- Genre
- Jazz
- Songwriting
- Reddit listener question on staying in the zone
- Garbage in, garbage out (musical inputs vs. outputs)
- Master-bus setting experiments
- Learning a new instrument to break habits
- Doubling takes for confidence
- Tempo changes early in the process (not late)
- Changing posture and environment
- hostNote
- "Garbage in, garbage out", when nothing's coming, the real question is what you've been feeding yourself. Writer's block is almost always an input problem, not an output one. I go through the full bag: listening outside your genre, starting something and abandoning it on purpose to see where it leads, changing your environment, learning a new instrument, and the quiet confidence trick of doubling your recordings. Some of these shift headspace; some just give your hands something unfamiliar to reach for. One specific caveat: change the tempo early in the process, not late. Trust me on that one, late is brutal.
- selectedMoments
- label
- Reddit question after Memorial Day
- startSec
- 1
- note
- Back from a lake break; a listener asked how to stay excited and keep generating ideas.
- label
- The whole bag of tricks
- startSec
- 46
- note
- Frame: changing perspective applies to any creative work, not just music.
- label
- Garbage in, garbage out
- startSec
- 93
- note
- Dad's phrase applied to inputs — classical, jazz, and field recordings outside my usual frame.
- label
- Abandon the first idea
- startSec
- 185
- note
- Start something, leave it, let the next idea arrive from the wreckage.
- label
- Master bus experiments
- startSec
- 406
- note
- Tweak the two-bus setup and let the setting change the headspace.
- label
- New instruments, new reach
- startSec
- 543
- note
- Unfamiliar fretboards and keys force different melodic choices.
- label
- Double for confidence
- startSec
- 633
- note
- Stacking a part until it feels solid enough to commit.
- label
- Tempo early, not late
- startSec
- 812
- note
- Closing caveat — shifting BPM at the end of a production is miserable.
- excerptQuotes
- text
- There's a whole bag of tricks that I have that I go to all the fricking time, and I'm sharing with you, because I want you to make more music.
- startSec
- 88
- reviewed
- true
- text
- Start something, and then abandon that idea, but let it lead you to the next idea.
- startSec
- 229
- reviewed
- true
- text
- Those head space changes create a different frame of mind for everything.
- startSec
- 398
- reviewed
- true
- text
- Change the tempo early in the process — don't do this late in the process. That sucks.
- startSec
- 809
- reviewed
- true
- faq
- question
- What triggered this episode on writer's block?
- answer
- A Reddit listener asked how I stay in the zone and keeps generating ideas. The episode is his full answer: not inspiration mysticism, but a repeatable bag of tricks for shifting inputs and perspective.
- question
- What does 'garbage in, garbage out' mean for musicians?
- answer
- I borrow the phrase from his dad and applies it to listening diet: if you only feed yourself one genre, your outputs narrow. I recommend classical, jazz, field recordings, and deep musical history as ways to break a slump.
- question
- What production tricks does Luke recommend when ideas stall?
- answer
- Abandon a starter idea on purpose, experiment with master-bus settings, learn a new instrument, double a part for confidence, and — critically — change tempo early in the process, not after the arrangement is locked.
- transcriptPublished
- false
- draft
- false
Content
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