Found this link amidst my meanderings on the internet: Why 1000 words a day is easy and quick. This is a goal that I hope to immediately obtain as swiftly as possible. The joy writing brings me is great, the mental consternation I impose on myself before writing are unwelcome. If some system can help mitigate the unwelcome effects and encourage me to write more than I am completely gung-ho on the idea.
When writing one of your strongest assets is that of concentration. The ability to start and finish a sentence without pause during its construction is one vital to strong literature. When a break is taken between the beginning and end of a sentence’s creation its fluidity is jeopardized. However there are no tautologies to this claim – some sentences require pause during their creation, demanding rest before made whole.
This past week I have put myself at creative jeopardy for a host of issues related to the one discussed above. At every opportunity I saw this past week to record word I blanched – fearing interruption and the sea of hardships that would come in tow. Instead of seizing what five minutes I found to stitch words together that I could then save to eventually revise and share, I made swift detours from ever opening a document to begin any attempt at creation. It was not five minutes of time I would have to write: it was five minutes I would have to try to write which would inevitably end in interruption and frustration.
This fear of frustration has resulted in the remorse of frustration I am currently experiencing as I solemnly look back at the week and see all the times I could have spent writing instead of wringing my hands in fear. That is ultimately what held me back from writing anything I could be currently viewing as valuable. Yet it has given me these words of reflection that will steer me straighter and truer in the future. So as I regress I will assess and subsequently progress – concentrating all the while.
The mind is a terrible thing to waste. Yet the wasting of one’s mind cannot always be prevented. There are only so many hours in a day and attempts to complete all desired tasks are unattainable. I won’t dare to state the impossibility of such feats for I am sure those of more unique positions are capable of fulfilling and living their dreams daily, however for myself the possibility of completing all that I wish on a daily basis is close to impossible and far from easy.
It seems that my mind daily rotates from topics of extreme rigidity such as programming and coding, to those of fanciful imaginings such as the poems that I write and sometimes post to this blog. Yet for me to enjoy each of these passions in one day is hard to obtain, for the time spent on each focus – and done well – detracts from the time allowed for the other (all this without concern for the time taken to switch between).
So what am I to do? What I have been doing: working on one topic to its completion and then journeying over to the other focus and resume or begin a work that is otherwise incompatible with the former. Coding and writing both make use of my fingers on the keyboard however the intent and focus of each are at odds. The former requires precision whereas the latter demands freedom. To write a line in a program and then a line in a poem is a feat I have yet to perform nor seen done with seamless integration.
And so I will go forward, as only one can, completing tasks as I am able, learning from all my persuasions and incorporating them while remaining stable.
This video was too good to pass on posting. It’s as much for you as it is a reminder for me: it takes time and space for creativity to flourish. Nothing much more, nothing much less.