Vertical Time

Lioness, Ink on paper, 18" X 24", 2025

This past month I got to do a little inspiration trip to New Mexico. Boy, did I need it. But mostly what I needed was something that all artists crave: Vertical Time.

Haven't heard of it?

I first heard of this concept from Jenny Odell's book Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock. As an artist, here's how I interpret this idea:

There is Horizontal Time and Vertical Time.

Horizontal Time is driven by the clock as we know it. It says you need to be HERE at THIS time for the world to work. It's your 9-5 workday. It's your kid's school pick-up time. It's when dinner needs to be served. It's the daily structure of time that rules our lives. And when we're looking for creative time, we are trying to jam little bits of time into this already scheduled and accounted for day.

This is how we live most of our lives - in Horizontal Time. But then there is Vertical Time.

Vertical Time is open. It's uncommitted. It's unscheduled. It's not driven by the typical structure of a working day. And because it's not structured, our brains are free to wander. Instead of listening to the clock we can listen to other things - our ideas, our hunches, our bodies, etc. People often experience Vertical Time when they are on vacation, for example.

As you can imagine, blocking out some Vertical Time is essential for creativity.

So how do we create Vertical Time when our lives are ruled by Horizontal Time?

The good news is we don't need a lot of Vertical Time to really benefit from it. I just got back from two days of Vertical Time (sans kids), and boy, my brain is swimming with new ideas. 

My tip is to start small. Instead of trying to restructure your whole life so it is only made of Vertical Time (which leads to its own problems), try to just do one day.

Get up late.
Make no plans.
Get a babysitter.
Eat when you're hungry.
Sleep when you're tired.
Read something interesting.
Don't worry about producing anything.
Ignore the clock (and your phone).
Do this and you'll find some REAL creative fuel.

And enjoy it.