One of the interesting things I am learning about writing as a 'full-time' career is that you can't have brain dead days.
When you work in an office, unless you have a micro-manager, it is generally possible to fake it through a day when the brain isn't quite firing on all cylinders.
This is not the case when you are writing. If you are brain dead the words on the page are DOA.
I suppose that experienced writers probably set aside certain tasks to do on those days that the synapses just aren't firing.
I don't know. I can't really think of what to do. I'm having a brain dead day!
1 comment:
I've actually found this to be a challenge as well. I can't just coast through work with my brain shut off because all of the things I do require a level of either conscious present-ness (ministry) or concentration (writing).
I get glimpses of how this is a good practice - deep down I always hated those days where I realized at the end that I'd worked 12 hours and all I had to show for it was a piercing back-ache and about seventy bucks after taxes. I hadn't grown or changed and felt like I hadn't done a single meaningful thing. (I can see now how, for example, how I treated coworkers and customers was meaningful, but it didn't feel that way at the time).
I am also figuring out "fallow time" for my mind. The fact is that I just run out of concentration-juice. It's like trying to solve a problem or puzzle. You get suck, and more thinking will not help no matter what you do. Then you go make a sandwich and play with the dog and watch an episode of Chuck and suddenly the answer comes to you like a smack in the forehead.
Writing ideas come to me that way sometimes, so I'm trying to cultivate this 'fallow time' to let my subconscious do it's work.
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