Are you mad?

White rooms, artistic loons and dark, melancholic tunes.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Hypergraphia An exploration into creative compulsion ​ --------------------------------------------------------------- Housekeeping: I'm releasing a new spoken-word poem next Friday. To ensure it finds your ears, pre-save it [here](). --------------------------------------------------------------- As a kid, I would suffer these visual seizures where whatever room I was in would become blindingly white and the objects in it would shrink to a mere fraction of their size. It felt like the moment in Alice in Wonderland when she takes a bite out of the mushroom and her neck springs her head high above the treetops. One day when I asked my mother why she had suddenly shrunk, she wore a concerned look on her face, kneeled down in front of me and gently urged me to elaborate. I held my thumb and forefinger up to my right eye, as if clutching a penny between them, indicating the size she had become. She took me to the doctor the very next day who referred us to a specialist who referred us to another specialist who told us these “focal seizures” were a mild form of epilepsy that I would surely outgrow with time. I did. Epilepsy––particularly temporal lobe epilepsy––can be the catalyst of a behavioral condition known as Hypergraphia, which is defined as the overwhelming compulsion to write or create. While there is certainly a part of me that wishes I had Hypergraphia, I don’t. Those with Hypergraphia write as if they’re taking dictation from God and create like they’re plucking art from the ether. Hypergraphia is a sensational outpouring of prolific proportion that does not slow until the vessel ceases to exist. Van Gogh, Leonardo da Vinci, Kafka, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Sylvia Plath, Pablo Picasso and Lewis Carroll were all believed to be possessed by Hypergraphia. Carroll, in addition to the creation of Alice in Wonderland, penned 98,000 letters throughout the course of his lifetime. One doesn't write 98,000 letters simply to "stay in touch" with friends and family. Carroll was meticulously and obsessively cataloging every thought, every idea, every experience in the written word. That's Hypergraphia. I share all of this because I think it can be advantageous for creatives to view the creation of their work through the lens of Hypergraphia even if we don’t suffer from the ailment. When the creation of art is reframed from a desire to a compulsion––from a want to a need––it frees the artist from the expectations they so often place on themselves and their work (which inevitably ends up getting in the way of themselves and their work). Van Gogh created 900 paintings and drawings over a decade-long career. While he was alive and breathing, he sold but one. You read this and you realize Van Gogh didn't want to paint. Van Gogh needed to paint. Charles Bukowski, another individual who displayed Hypergraphia-esque tendencies, once wrote a poem titled Roll the Dice... if you’re going to try, go all the way. ​ otherwise, don’t even start. ​ if you’re going to try, go all the way. ​ this could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, jobs and maybe your mind. ​ go all the way. it could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days. it could mean freezing on a park bench. it could mean jail, it could mean derision, mockery, isolation. isolation is the gift, all the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. and you’ll do it despite rejection and the worst odds and it will be better than anything else you can imagine. ​ if you’re going to try, go all the way. there is no other feeling like that. you will be alone with the gods and the nights will flame with fire. ​ do it, do it, do it. do it. ​ all the way all the way. ​ you will ride life straight to perfect laughter, it’s the only good fight there is. I'm not advising you to heed the advice shared in the above poem nor am I encouraging you to follow in Bukowski's footsteps. Sacrificing friends, loved ones and partners for the sake of your vocation is a recipe for a lifetime of regret and unhappiness. However, what I am saying is that simply wanting to do something isn't enough. The world is too cruel, the competition is too fierce and the luck is too sparse for your vocation to survive solely on the basis of desire. You must feel something deeper than desire, deeper than want, deeper than passion. Your craft should feel like a compulsion. Or, at the very least, a calling. By [Cole Schafer](​ P.S. New art coming Friday (please remember to [pre-save]()). --------------------------------------------------------------- The plastic facade of virality One of my poems is currently going ballistic on Instagram Back in June, I shared a poem I had written on Instagram titled: [A Lifetime of Coffees With You](=). While it received some modest attention initially, two weeks back shit started getting weird. I opened up the app one morning to find tens of thousands of people had liked the post overnight. Nope. My life hasn't changed. Nope. Still no book deals. Nope. I'm not seeing any requests for submissions from The Paris Review. I don't say any of this to sound ungrateful. It's a real gift to have written something that struck a chord with so many people. However, this little magic moment is a good reminder to myself that its consistency that builds a career not virality. With that said, it's still pretty neat. [READ IT AND WEEP](=) --------------------------------------------------------------- Open the Kimono When you are ready, she is waiting I recorded [Kimono](=) in the depths of winter in Upstate New York. When I listen back to it now, nearly 9-months later in the middle of summer, I can't help but feel a subtle chill in the air. Exploring topics like grief, heartbreak and childhood trauma, Kimono is a dark, melancholic spoken-word album perfect for late-night drives or good, ugly cries. When you are ready, she is waiting. [YOU LISTEN HERE](=) --------------------------------------------------------------- Meet Cute A creative writing course for the helpless romantics ​ Written by Cole Schafer and illustrated by an A.I. interpretation of Roy Lichtenstein, [Meet Cute](=) is a creative writing guide that reads like your favorite book. It utilizes 16 raw and wildly entertaining stories, along with invaluable writing lessons and thought-provoking prompts to help you fall in love with the craft of writing while becoming the kind of writer that readers fall in love with.‍ [GRAB A PEN](=) --------------------------------------------------------------- [[linkedin]​]() ​ [Update your email preferences]( or unsubscribe [here](​ © 2024 The Process 113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205