I've been writing creative pieces during my classes recently - listening and contributing (of course!) but also furiously penning everything from blog posts to goal lists and recipes to try out. It hasn't been easy to get myself to a place where I can write; I have pockets of time and materials and stories to write, but when I declare it Writing Time, I freeze. Performance anxiety. My thoughts are abuzz with stock phrases like 'need to finish, need to work, need to concentrate.'
Forcing creativity doesn't really work, even when you have it pent up. It has to flow out of you - sometimes in a trickle and sometimes in a flood. For me, it means that sometimes I need intense quiet, and sometimes I need my working brain to be distracted by people talking about Virginia Woolf or character development. The trick is to dislodge the creative brain stuff at the same time. My analytical brain gets caught up in its usual dalliances, getting me through school and the next hour of class. Meanwhile, the creative part of me can break from its stable and charge ahead.
It's probably not very respectful, but I hope that my writing teachers will understand.
Forcing creativity doesn't really work, even when you have it pent up. It has to flow out of you - sometimes in a trickle and sometimes in a flood. For me, it means that sometimes I need intense quiet, and sometimes I need my working brain to be distracted by people talking about Virginia Woolf or character development. The trick is to dislodge the creative brain stuff at the same time. My analytical brain gets caught up in its usual dalliances, getting me through school and the next hour of class. Meanwhile, the creative part of me can break from its stable and charge ahead.
It's probably not very respectful, but I hope that my writing teachers will understand.
