An image on Facebook prompted me to write this blog. The post read as follows: “A writer is working when looking out the window.”
“That’s me!” my mind shouted. (I would have shouted out loud, but I was at work and being on Facebook during office hours is frowned upon.) Conscientious employee that I am, I logged out and began my other work, but my mind kept returning to that statement.
Does a writer’s brain have an “off” switch (just for writing/creative thought – I need the rest of it to keep functioning)? Does it know how to power down and re-charge? I dream, so I know my mind is busy even when I’m sleeping! It seems that the more I write, the busier my brain is. It wants to turn everything into a story, a posting, or a caption to a photo I’m about to upload onto social media. Sometimes I’d like to look out the window and appreciate what is there without my brain trying to turn it into something.
When I watch a great drama series like Outlander or Poldark, my brain is constantly looking for something to write about. It’s helped me write blogs about a beautiful staircase, the use of flowers, and that beautiful pearl necklace in Outlander, along with that little pinky ring Ross slipped from Elizabeth’s finger in the first episode of Poldark.
I wondered why I plunk myself down for an hour of Judge Judy when I get home from work (self-analyzing, if you will). Turns out, it’s the only way I can get my brain to disengage and stop composing things. I guess it’s my way of resting the creative part of my brain before I head to the office for an evening of writing. Sorry, Judge Judy. No disrespect intended.
It would probably help if I only had one writing project going at a time. Seriously, this is borderline whackadoodle land for me. In my defense, I don’t think I’m the only one who does this – I know there are more of you out there! I’m currently in what I refer to as the “drifting method.” Based on my mood or what I’m seeing out “my window” at any given time, I move back and forth between them, tending to each of them without neglecting the others for too long a period of time (they let me know, believe me, when they feel it’s their turn). I used to scoff at the idea of having more than one project going at a time – until it happened to me. I’m a believer, and I sympathize.
Which leads me to pose a question that will probably remain unanswered and unresolved. If my creative mind can’t take a time out, can I at least request a dimmer switch?
Every Day Writer 