I would say that there’s a reason that it’s mostly a game for the young, but even people who hit their stride in their mid-later years (Rammstein?) have that initial “push”.

Once you really know your game, the self-imposed mystery of what you did in your youth is laid bare as elements of craft and you face the choice of either repeating yourself or trying to reinvent yourself in a way that excites you enough to really put yourself into it 100%. If you go the latter route, you also potentially risk alienating your existing audience, which can be risky if you’re depending on them as your meal ticket. So, what to do?

A lot of the (musical) “artists” who seem to have the most consistent career tracks for a long period always turn out to be performers who don’t write the bulk of their material – pop singers and the like. The less time that they need to devote to writing and producing killer material, the more time they have to stay in the public eye and pursue other things that keep their interest and keep them looking “fresh”.

Also, the lull can come from the eventual interruption of a more “balanced” life. When creative people consciously make the effort to have a family (and be a present member in that family), take some time off, repair their friendships, buy and renovate a house or try a different creative venue (acting?), that new pursuit can prove to be very demanding and/or very seductive. Let’s face it, any job becomes routine after long enough, and that goes for creating things as well. Life needs balance, and once you take your eye away from “the prize”, it tends to slip away from your view. Which can be okay. Can you really keep up the kind of output that you did in your youth? Most of us can’t. Maybe you can attempt to prolong it through drugs, but that usually ends poorly. If you are a superstar, you can have a team of people doing the grunt work (of all kinds) for you. But most of us will never achieve that level of success.

In my field, which requires me to create on demand, I have seen “the lull” in a lot of folks. Usually it ends after a few years and they settle into a less prolific but more consistent and satisfying output, generally unconcerned with the “change-the-world” drive of youth.

For myself, I have noticed a very prominent leveling-off of personal creative output at the same time my professional and family demands increased. But I try not to worry about it, because I know it will even out eventually. When I sit down for work, I find that I am able to create things much more quickly and of much higher production value than I was able to in my youth. Granted, I know a lot of the “tricks” that I tried to “discover” in my youth, but I do find myself satisfied in my work, provided I don’t have an unreasonable deadline. Sure, maybe there isn’t the same kind of… excitement that I had in my youth, but I’m finding that my audience…errr clients don’t seem to care as much. That’s not always the aim they’re after. and I take a lot of enjoyment in playing father, husband, home improvement bitch, knowledgable statesman of my industry and friend to those I mesh with. I have accomplished a lot in my life. I need to stop marginalizing that fact with my tendency to look toward the future with blinders on.