If lightning doesn’t strike, our work need not be delayed. Some storm chasers believe that inspiration precedes creation. This is not always the case. Working without lightning bolts is simply working. Like carpenters, we show up each day and do our job. Sculptors knead clay, sweep the studio floor, and lock up for the night. Graphic designers sit at their workstations, select images, choose fonts, create layouts, and hit save.

Artists are ultimately craftspeople. Sometimes our ideas come through bolts of lightning. Other times only through effort, experiment, and craft. AS we work, we may notice connections and become surprised by the wonder of what’s revealed through the doing itself. In a way, these small a-ha! moments are also bolts of lightning . Less vivid, they still illuminate our way.

– Rick Rubin

The opening chapters of this book had me push it to the side. But for some reason, (short chapters) I read on. The second half of the book Rick dispenses that real talk.

Inspiration is optional. Work is not.

Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being (New York: Penguin Press, 2023).pg 290