This post is good, as they usually are, when I get time to read them... but this one especially so and landed in my inbox just at the right time. Insightful, thought provoking, reassuring even... Thanks Neil
Great post. I think the real challenge to being open to unexpected outcomes and proceeding without a plan, is the soul-destroying reality of the corporate world, whether public or private, where plans, strategies and outcomes are of fundamental importance precisely as a means of subverting creativity or the unexpected. Conditioned by this mentality in so many places of employment, it is difficult to break free in the more creative areas of our lives.
Thanks Olli. I have managed to cultivate a certain amount of freedom as a freelancer. The idea of going to an office with bad lighting and endless noise for 8 hours a day would kill my productivity.
First, thanks for "invigilating." My vocabulary continues to improve! I like this very much. It inspired many thoughts. Among them:
I was always horrified when one of my kids came home with a writing assignment in which they first had to produce an "outline" of what they would be writing about. You know, the intro, argument, and conclusion in a nested list of numbers and letters. I wanted to fire those teachers. I mean, how the F*** can you write an outline of what you want to write about before you write about it?
Writing is the act of discover and creation; having written is what leads us to the "and it was good" finality. Writing (or any creative act) involves the uncovering the hidden ideas, which we then integrate into the writing, which leads to more hidden mysteries, which we then intergrate into the writing, etc. An outline can do that? WTF? No, it takes work, time, patience, perseverance to uncover, uncover, uncover.
For the past five days I've been sitting at my laptop spending an hour each morning on a single scene from my life: the moment my father found out that my mother was dead. I was 11, in the room when it happened. My first hour of writing I couldn't get past a single thought, a single moment from that memory, that I kept repeating with my keystrokes. Like Jack Nicholson in The Shining, repeatedly writing "all work and no play, all work and no play." Over and over again. I was stuck with a single memory from that moment. .
Day two I was able to expand it a bit, bringing in a few more details, but only a few. And this morning, my third try, I was able to write non-stop for the full hour, my fingers not wanting to stop, expanding the memory with details of my back yard, the kitchen, the cereal I was eating. The process of writing/unocovering like an archeological dig. One more layer, one more layer, one more layer. Could an outline have gotten me to this point?
As an aside, I hesitate to use the word "productivity" with respect to "creativity." My first day was not productive. My second day was not productive. My third day, I still haven't "produced" anything; I've only "uncovered" what I have already known for 50 years but am only know digging deep enough to see it. Creativity is not about productivity, it's about discovery. I suppose the sharing of that discovery could be rationalized as a "product." Though, respectfully, I'm not sure I want my goal in this process to have created a product.
Your essay touched something. Triggered it, maybe. Good timing. I had my afternoon set, but I'm upending my plans now to write a fuller response to your essay. I hope you don't mind if I respond to your post with a post of my own. Out of complete respect for your ideas. To continue the discussion. Look for it tomorrow. I appreciate this very much.
This post is good, as they usually are, when I get time to read them... but this one especially so and landed in my inbox just at the right time. Insightful, thought provoking, reassuring even... Thanks Neil
Thanks Malcolm. Happy to hear and look forward to discussing in person.
Nicely done. Another word that might be useful here is play -- which usually requires a sense of not knowing the outcome.
Thank you. Yes, play is a good space to experiment. Have to establish good rules though!
Great post. I think the real challenge to being open to unexpected outcomes and proceeding without a plan, is the soul-destroying reality of the corporate world, whether public or private, where plans, strategies and outcomes are of fundamental importance precisely as a means of subverting creativity or the unexpected. Conditioned by this mentality in so many places of employment, it is difficult to break free in the more creative areas of our lives.
Thanks Olli. I have managed to cultivate a certain amount of freedom as a freelancer. The idea of going to an office with bad lighting and endless noise for 8 hours a day would kill my productivity.
First, thanks for "invigilating." My vocabulary continues to improve! I like this very much. It inspired many thoughts. Among them:
I was always horrified when one of my kids came home with a writing assignment in which they first had to produce an "outline" of what they would be writing about. You know, the intro, argument, and conclusion in a nested list of numbers and letters. I wanted to fire those teachers. I mean, how the F*** can you write an outline of what you want to write about before you write about it?
Writing is the act of discover and creation; having written is what leads us to the "and it was good" finality. Writing (or any creative act) involves the uncovering the hidden ideas, which we then integrate into the writing, which leads to more hidden mysteries, which we then intergrate into the writing, etc. An outline can do that? WTF? No, it takes work, time, patience, perseverance to uncover, uncover, uncover.
For the past five days I've been sitting at my laptop spending an hour each morning on a single scene from my life: the moment my father found out that my mother was dead. I was 11, in the room when it happened. My first hour of writing I couldn't get past a single thought, a single moment from that memory, that I kept repeating with my keystrokes. Like Jack Nicholson in The Shining, repeatedly writing "all work and no play, all work and no play." Over and over again. I was stuck with a single memory from that moment. .
Day two I was able to expand it a bit, bringing in a few more details, but only a few. And this morning, my third try, I was able to write non-stop for the full hour, my fingers not wanting to stop, expanding the memory with details of my back yard, the kitchen, the cereal I was eating. The process of writing/unocovering like an archeological dig. One more layer, one more layer, one more layer. Could an outline have gotten me to this point?
As an aside, I hesitate to use the word "productivity" with respect to "creativity." My first day was not productive. My second day was not productive. My third day, I still haven't "produced" anything; I've only "uncovered" what I have already known for 50 years but am only know digging deep enough to see it. Creativity is not about productivity, it's about discovery. I suppose the sharing of that discovery could be rationalized as a "product." Though, respectfully, I'm not sure I want my goal in this process to have created a product.
I hope you get to repurpose it outside of my comment section!
Your essay touched something. Triggered it, maybe. Good timing. I had my afternoon set, but I'm upending my plans now to write a fuller response to your essay. I hope you don't mind if I respond to your post with a post of my own. Out of complete respect for your ideas. To continue the discussion. Look for it tomorrow. I appreciate this very much.
I would love that. Looking forward to it!
Thank you for sharing this. It does what writing should do and makes me feel like I temporarily inhabit your consciousness.
Thank you for sharing about Stanley's insights! 🙏🙏 just what I needed to know in my life right now
Great!!!! The book was a revelation. You can get a flavour here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXQPL9GooyI
Great article.