The need to articulate and validate creative practice has been made more urgent by the inclusion of the creative arts in the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) process. The proof of research quality is tied to government funding and universities have strategically sought to increase their share of funding by targeting their own research output. A variety of research fields have been working through their own unique methods and discussing the decisions of criteria, especially regarding the ranking of journals as a measure of quality. Traditional researchers are confronting problems within these new definitions and alignments. This author recently went through the ERA evidence gathering process. The measurement of creative work as research output as part of this process has raised a number of issues for him, as a creative scholar, which he feels will be useful to share. This paper is intended as a case study focusing on the author's experiences in being measured for the ERA. It is therefore, necessarily personal. He seeks to share the fruits of this encounter and subsequent analysis with creative and traditional researchers in the belief in common ground rather than difference.