Lately I’ve become quite intrigued by the creative process. I’ve made some observations about myself and how that process works for me, or how it occurs in my presence… I’m not really sure about a lot of what happens where, but I’m reading and listening and thinking. I think that last one is the biggy.
Merlin Mann has said that writing is sometimes going for a walk and sometimes goofing around and sometimes playing with your kids and sometimes pouring glue in your chair and putting your head down and getting it done. Right now, I guess I’m doing something that vaguely resembles the latter while my wrist reminds me that I need a new ergonomic keyboard.
I’ve noticed that I never find my muse (for as cheesy as that sounds) when I’m near a computer. I’ll find it on the john, or when I’m climbing into bed or when I’m driving home from work (with the radio OFF). I find my inspiration in my musings about whatever topic comes to mind when my brain is free to wander on its own. Certain things that I can’t predict or understand take root and spring up and become a source of thought for a while and I’m never in front of a computer when I do it.
Still, as I sit here, I realize that I’m normal for a “creative”. I recently watched a movie that ended with a line that went something like “I’m going to go find my next story. I hope you do the same”. I don’t tend to tell stories so much, but taking the line as a metaphor goes a long way to producing the transition. Sometimes I need to go find the story. I need to go find the inspiration in my musings over topics that may not interest anyone but me. I need to let my mind go for a walk even if I’m stuck behind the wheel of the family minivan in rush hour traffic.
It’s encouraging though, knowing that you’re not strange for being the way you are. I read recently that minds that are allowed to wander or, more specifically, people that don’t force themselves to focus on a problem are more likely to experience a revelation; that a-ha moment that suddenly explains things. I’ve long thought I was lazy or stupid and here I’ve gone and discovered after all my years on earth that I’m just normal. That feels pretty good.
So I’m off to find my next story. Hope you do the same.