This bit "An important part of any art is for the artists to escape the "part of the present that is the past", and for most artists, this is delicate because

This bit "An important part of any art is for the artists to escape the "part of the present that is the past", and for most artists, this is delicate because the present is so everywhere and loud and interruptive. For individual contributors, a good ploy is to disappear for a while" reminded me of John Carmack explaining in his .plans how he would go off and seclude himself for a couple of weeks to start a new iteration of the id technology.