Creative Process

When I started writing blog posts daily, I jotted ideas on a list as they came to me. One sentence/word notes to myself. Gradually "about what" generation and writing became a habit, so that I didn’t even need to refer to “stored ideas”. 

Even as I started working on a first book, the idea of writing a book still intimidates me. Blogging no longer does. Neither does putting my ideas out in public, since I have been doing this regularly. I store the posts I put on LinkedIn, and I have written 235 pages (about 170,000 words) since February 2019. Longer than a book, but not a book. I still have work to do in the editing etc. 

I am most productive when I have confidence in a process that works. Second time is less scary, but you don’t get a second time without a first time. 

Part of my creative process this time, was recording myself talking to myself. I mapped out 12 chapters based on what I had been grappling with for the previous 5 years on my blog. Then some sub-points for each chapter. Then I just spoke about it, and recorded that on Zoom. Then I used Otter.ai to get a transcript. 

Now, I am gradually working through that transcript day by day. I write a paragraph based on the next bit of the transcript, then use naturalreaders.com/online/ to read it back to me. 

A long process, but fortunately I am not scared of things taking time. I think the best things do. Most of all, I enjoy the process. 

Thinking aloud instead of in silence also means I am engaging with people. My water cooler conversations often relate to a post I have written, but it is the colleague who brings it up. Stumbling on and grappling with ideas that resonate is why I enjoy my creative process. 

I am still intimidated by the idea of writing a book... but, it seems, that is what I am doing.

Our Own Cacophony

I have had several journals. One of the problems they caused when 'looking back' is that they weren't a reflection of my actual feelings or thoughts. I would sit down and write, normally when upset, and purge myself of whatever is going on in my head. The picture my journals painted was often a grotesque mutilation.

Like the Pixar film, 'Inside Out' - most of what goes on inside my head is a filter free discussion between various emotions and attempts to apply some logic and rationality. When I grabbed for a pen to take minutes of these crazy meetings, there was no way possible to grab everyone's thoughts. I only learnt to touch type a few years ago, so I was also constrained by how fast the thoughts could pass through my arm and fingers. Even now, when I type using a computer relatively quickly, I am not catching everything. I am paraphrasing. Like a minute taker where there is no recording and no witnesses. The journal becomes the sole record.

Journals are notorious for getting people into trouble when other people read them. Particularly if people are very close to you, it can be difficult to be honest or even know what honesty is. Tact and kindness are important filters of what gets said. We always need to think both of what is said, and how it will be heard. The relationship is far more important than the words that get used and words are not precision tools. Journals are an attempt to open those gates, and so should come with fat hazard warnings if being read by someone other than the writer. Honesty is time.

Three Gates of Speech

1. Is it true?

2. Is it helpful?

3. Is it kind?

This blog has effectively been a journal of thought for me. I sit down and write about something I am thinking, reading or chatting to friends about. It is a first draft. I have intentionally forced myself to write almost every day to build a habit of writing. It has also forced me to get over the 'is it good enough gate' which can prevent anything happening at all. Many thoughts are rubbish. Many ideas don't make sense. Often thoughts are disconnected, and the narrative exists in my head rather than on the paper. If the narrative exists at all.

What I do know is that I am not unique. Inside all our heads is this crazy place where we are trying to make sense of the world. We all have to take years and years to learn to be kind to ourselves because we have no choice but to listen to our own cacophony. To discard thoughts that try derail us. To let go of thoughts that over stay their welcome. We don't get to leave ourselves. There is no escape hatch unlike a world where we can choose to leave the neighbourhood we grew up in, the job we don't like, or the friends and family who form our community.

Alain de Botton talks in 'How Proust Can Change Your Life' about just how many drafts Proust went through to create his masterpieces. Editing. Cutting out. Rereading. Beauty lies somewhere between being brave enough to put thoughts out there when they are unformed, and being willing to be detached enough from what has been said to find the truth in amongst the noise that resonates. Our stories are alive because they change. We are our stories.

Waiting for Inspiration

We have incredibly powerful imaginations. This lets us play. When we let go and dive into that wonderful place between reality and our dreams, we empower ourselves to release some false realities. We empower ourselves to push beyond what we know. Because there is more.

Children know this. They have not yet defined themselves and so filtered out any potential source of joy. Today they may be a fireman. Tomorrow a princess. As we get a little more serious and a little bit more sure of our reality, our confidence grows that we 'understand the way the world works' in our own little niche. We stop playing. We look for facts.

Creativity requires a little play. By definition you can't be doing something new if you have done it before. We need to look to our imaginations. There is a temptation to wait for inspiration to strike. The mood to set in. The epiphany to burst light and energy into your thoughts. Waiting   can      lead    to         more              and                        more                                    w a  i   t    i    n      g.

Professional writers can't afford to believe in writer's block. They sit down and are often on deadline - so they write. Sometimes what they write is incredible. Sometimes it isn't. The first draft may be awful and then get honed. 'How Proust can change your life' tells of the number of edits Proust used to go through until his finely honed texts were finished. The Epiphany becomes hard to identify. The hard work less so. 

Picasso's story is rather inspirational. He was prolific. Besides always trying new things, his trick seemed to be that he was always trying. He didn't do a lot of waiting. Creativity becomes a habit. I have tried to follow that approach with this blog as I attempt to improve my writing. The best way to become a writer is to write. Unfortunately that means you get subjected to my first draft posts. It is a blog after all so I am not going to apologise too profusely. The discipline of writing a post every day means I am always thinking of ideas. I am listening more. I am watching more. Then I sit down and write. Typically it will take me anywhere between 30 and 90 minutes. Then I publish. That act of pressing the publish button normally is sufficient to bump the calluses off my eyes and catch a couple of typos. Which I can then correct (possibly after a friendly message from you). I don't believe little mistakes should stop you trying to develop a creative habit.

First drafts aren't great. But the idea that you can wait for a fully formed idea to smack you in the face with its neatly tied little pink bow is just plain silly. Play. If you are too serious to play, you are being silly, and as a very very serious person - silliness should not be tolerated.

My very very serious person face

Meetings

Seth Godin talks about the scourge of meetings.

He gives 9 rules to make sure you are getting the best out of meetings.

A friend I forwarded his post to suggested a 10th rule.

10. Never commit to recurring meetings in your diary

I guess the thing is to make sure people are communicating efficiently in other ways too. A similar list of rules could apply to when you send emails, when you phone someone, basically whenever you use other peoples time.

This works well for motivated people who get their thoughts in order and then share them, having done their homework. My concern is that some people who have good ideas don't have confidence in themselves and are SO scared of wasting other people's time, or 'asking the dumb question' that they keep quiet about it.

Communication. Good.
Wasting People's Time. Bad.
Being so scared of wasting time that you don't communicate good ideas. Very Bad.

How do you get better?

I only really started this blog with a post entitled 'Scared'? after Stuart had given me a lot of grief. I wanted to write, but I wanted to write stuff that was deep, interesting or funny. I wanted to write stuff that people would want to read, and I yet I just didn't write. Part of it is 'Creativity Block' and part of it is just a desire for everything you do to be fantastic.

In 'Outliers', Gladwell talks about how the Beatles spent much of the start of their career just singing other peoples songs. But they spent hours and hours on stage until they got good enough to start experimenting.

Stuart writes about his umming and aahhing over the tone of his posts. I must admit, when I started blogging more regularly, and particularly when I was working through thoughts about the role of government and capitalism, or the power of the free market, I really enjoyed the interaction with Stuart and his brother Greg in the comments section. I enjoyed it, but the tone was quite aggressive. Greg doesn't comment on my blog as much since it became more of a 'Yay Internet' blog as Stuart calls it.

When listening to people who enjoy debating, you are often struck by how little they are listening, and how much they are waiting for their turn to speak. Disinterested seeking of the truth where you are your own biggest critic is very difficult. Genuinely trying to hear, empathize and think through another persons perspective is a rare remarkable skill. But you also don't want to never venture opinions. I think it comes down to making those statements, or bold conjectures, and then being your biggest critic.

What I worry about is that we become so worried about how we say things and the tone of how we say it, that we don't say them. That the discussion sits in little folders that only you see. When Stuart mentions the fact that he has posts sitting there that he hasn't put up, I think that is just silly.

I do think there is a very important place for reviewed, reworked, updated and well thought through essays. But I also think you need to get your thoughts out there to be worked through.

Had I the IT skills, and a few more dollops of motivation, I would like my blog to be a combination of blog posts written (as I do) in 20-30 minutes and posted. Essays that are well thought through. Audio conversations, and talks. Presentations. Basically as many different avenues as possible. If I really got motivated, maybe even a book.

But what I do think is important is that you find a way of getting it out there, of getting into the habit of trying. Then be your own worst critic and try and improve.

I for one think Mr Torr does a good job both of stating his opinions strongly, and of criticizing them.

Creativity Block

I got home today (3 apples down) really excited to start reading 'Out of our minds' by Ken Robinson.

His talk on TED is still my favourite and I have been looking forward to getting his books ever since I discovered that site courtesy of Presentation Zen.

I have had to force myself to put the book down so that I am not too stuffed tomorrow, and so I can vent some of the energy he has bubbling in me on this blog.

The start of the book is about how fast the world is changing and has changed. Our grandparents lives were not that different from their grandparents. Ours are world's apart from our parents childhoods and our children will struggle to imagine the world we grew up in. The big thing that he looks at is what this means for how we think about education and learning and what is important.

When last did you need to do mental maths in your head? We use excel to do vastly complicated calculations. Instead of walking to a stream, getting water and spending the day hand washing clothes, we pop them in the machine, grab a glass of wine and a book or watch a movie, then they are done. Tough life. The things we used to have to learn are not going to be what matters any more. The rate at which computers, technology and nanotechnology are advancing, we will barely recognise our own world even 10 or 20 years from now.

What you can't replace though is creativity... that is the the distinctly human illogical mindset that allows us to solve all sorts of problems without the computing power. We need to feed our creativity.

One of my favourite Robinson stories is of walking into a classroom of 5 year olds and asking how many can draw? All their hands go up. How many can write... maybe one or two. 10 years later, you go into a classroom of 15 year olds and ask those same students who can write and all their hands go up. Who can draw? Maybe one or two.

Rubbish.

We get taught to stop being creative because we are so scared of not being the best. Of not adding value. We don't do the things we enjoy. We make excuses and we delay acting. Inertia. Blocks. Barriers. Boundaries.

It's time that changed. That thing you used to enjoy doing. That thing that used to put you in your element, that made you smile... do it.

Exciting times.

I don't have time

I think modern technology scares a lot of people. Things like Facebook are great, but they do take up time. So does email and so does having a cell phone.

Being involved takes time. Maintaining relationships takes time. Work takes time. So does reading, eating, sleeping, driving to and from places, and doing things like shopping, housework and admin.

And yet... I still treat the excuse, `I don't have time' with a little skepticism. It is probably one of the things I hear most often given as a reason. I don't buy it. Of course, there are exceptions...

BUT

I think of myself as a fairly efficient person who does quite a lot. Yet, I waste a lot of time. I spend a lot of time doing nothing. Inertia I call it, Stuart calls it revealed preference.

If I took all the time I spent doing nothing, and how much pleasure I gained from that (doing nothing is extremely pleasurable sometimes)... I am sure I would be much happier having done something else with that time.

I think there are a few reasons we don't do stuff:

1) The process seems excessively daunting
2) We can't see the benefit before hand
3) Lack of knowledge (we think it is harder than it is)
4) Laziness
5) Lack of inspiration
6) You feel you will be judged harshly.

I don't think we are very rational in our deciding what we want to do with our time because we don't tend to have a big picture view of things.

When I suggest to people they should start a blog, the common response is `I don't have time'. The reason I don't buy it, is because I know how much time it takes to keep a blog. Very little. I probably spend less than 30 minutes a day reading blogs, and then writing in mine. And I post most days. Someone could write once a week and I just don't buy they don't have 30 minutes.

So... I don't think time is the reason. I think the real reason is a combo of fear of judgement (6) and being daunted (1).

If the one thing that new technology is able to instill in young kids is not being scared of failure, and trying things... well I look forward to seeing the amazing creativity that will come out of that.