As November approaches my writing focus shifts to NaNoWriMo and the worlds and lives created word by word. Without this focus, my writing becomes sloppy, with unintended tone changes and unwieldy digressions. No fun to write and even less fun to read.
So, I remove as many distractions as possible. Yesterday, I exited from X. It was the third social media outlet I deactivated in the past month. Less scrolling, more writing.
Without the noise of social media or other distracting platforms, I am more purposeful in my creative pursuits. As I have said before, this isn’t about making money or getting likes. The creative aspects are purely selfish. I do this for myself. If, by chance, you find solace or entertainment in my musings, that’s a bonus, my friends.
Honestly, I believe that most artists feel this way. We are not creating to sell their work. We create because we have this need within to breathe life into something that never existed before. A piece of our soul is entangled within each creative work.
I don’t often write longhand when taking notes or freewriting for a project, as I find that my thoughts flow faster than my hand can write, thus I lose the magic. I can type much faster than I can write. However, that can even be too slow when I have a scene unfold completely in my mind.
In these rare occasions I dictate. It is the only way to capture the emotion, the scene, the texture and nuance that allows for the perfect flow of creative consciousness.
The peculiarities of creativity are not only held to artists. Many scientific theories have come about in a similar fashion. These thoughts and ideas seem to arise from nothingness. Emergent is a good word.
I can’t say these ideas need stillness to emerge in their completeness because more often that not conceptual grasping happens when I’m in the midst of a unrelated task such as brushing my teeth or talking a walk.
As I said, creativity is peculiar.