Make What You Feel, Not What You Can Explain
Don’t think your way through art—feel it.
There’s a sign Ray Bradbury kept above his typewriter for 25 years.
“Don’t think.”
It might sound backwards at first—especially to those of us who were raised to believe thinking harder was the answer to everything. But Bradbury—who gave us Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles—was onto something vital. Something I come back to every time I sit at the piano or try to wrangle a new idea into a song.
Thinking won’t save your art.
If you’re anything like me, that probably sounds a little backwards at first. But Bradbury—author of Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles—was onto something that hits home every time I sit down to write a song or start a new idea: Thinking won’t save your art. Feeling will.
Bradbury says, “You must never think at the typewriter. You must feel.”
Bradbury’s not telling us to throw away our minds. He’s reminding us there’s a time for thinking—and it’s not when you’re in the middle of making something real.
Because here’s the trap:
You start out with something raw and honest—some line that catches you off guard—and then your mind kicks in:
Is this too much? Too weird? Too personal? Will people get it?
Poof. The magic’s gone.
“What you’re trying to do as a creative person is surprise yourself, find out who you really are, and try not to lie.”
That one hits me hard.
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve tried to outsmart the creative process instead of just letting it move through me.
That’s part of why I keep returning to the acoustic piano. It keeps me grounded. The vibrations from the strings, the creak of the pedals… it reminds me to feel something instead of trying to calculate it.
There is something just real and grounding about the physical instrument.
The vibrations of the sound coming off the strings and the creak of the pedals keep me feeling something.
Stop Making Sense
The film and album Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads is a masterpiece, and worth re-watching if you haven’t recently. To me, this art feels like it's discovering itself in real time. David Byrne is up there moving in strange, angular ways, delivering lyrics that don’t always “make sense” in a linear or analytical way—but somehow, they feel truer than most popular music of the time.
The Blues Ain’t Thinking Either
Blues doesn’t care about being correct.
It bends, it breaks, it stretches. On purpose.
Because the truth isn’t always polite or pretty. It’s jagged and raw and full of feeling.
Listen to the first line of Robert Johnson’s “Cross Road Blues” and try to tell me that man wasn’t living something. It’s not polished—it’s real. And it resonates.
Blues artists have a wonderful habbit of bending guitar strings, playing crunchy notes, and pushing their voice slightly past the “correct” pitch. The feeling demands it!
Being technically correct may be how we learn certain techniques, practice our scales, and integrate the music fully into our bodies. But when we move to create, it’s time to feel. That’s what makes it real. That’s what makes it resonate.
Living is Not Thinking
Let’s go back to Bradbury one more time:
“At the typewriter, you should be living. It should be a living experience.”
Same goes for the piano. The mic. The canvas. The notebook.
When it’s working, you’re not performing.
You’re not polishing.
You’re just… being.
Exposing.
Living.
Bradbury had a simple exercise to tap into this:
“Make lists of things that you hate and things that you love. Write about these intensely.”
Let it be messy. Loud. Soft. Chaotic. Broken.
Whatever it needs to be.
Later—after the wave crashes—you can tidy it up. Sand the edges. Shape it.
But if you try to out-think it up front? It’ll stay stuck inside you.
“Thinking is to be a corrective in our life. It’s not supposed to be the center of our life.”
In other words: don’t try to think your way into the truth. Feel your way there first.
So if you’re stuck… second-guessing… trying to make it perfect before it’s even real—
Here’s your reminder:
Make what you feel.
Not what you can explain.
Let the thinking come later.
Let the truth come first.
🎧 If you want to hear Bradbury talk about this himself, here’s a great interview worth your time (Video Included Here)
Please Let me know what you feel about these ideas or share it with a fellow artist.