Hello, my beloved readers! Gideon U. Eklund here with an important message to shout down at you from my Golden Pedestal of greatness. But first, let’s check in with you. How are you doing? Have a good weekend? Work going okay? How’s your family? Good? I know you can’t answer me out loud while you’re reading this, but hopefully all is well.
There. I’ve made it sound like I care, which I’m told is the least I can do when interacting with other human beings.
Bare Minimum Humanity Achievement, unlocked!
Now that I think about it, “doing the least I can do” is a rather appropriate way to begin my subject today: Stepping back from your work for a while.
Part of my attempt to increase my Web Presence, (still capitalized for importance,) is to try and maintain a fairly regular, steady stream of blog posts. I’m also still working on my manuscripts, brainstorming my soon-to-be-a-real-thing podcast, and am currently trying to get enough money together for a writer’s conference in the end of October. I also started work on another manuscript recently, set in the same fictional world as the two I’m trying to get published now, but starring a completely new cast of characters. So, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, I keep my idea plate pretty full.
I feel like, even when I’m not putting text to page, my brain is always writing, always creating, and always trying to cook up new content for you folks to absorb. I realize that everyone out there and their mothers have blogs, so what I’m doing isn’t wondrously special or anything, but I keep plugging away, regardless. Someday it will be out there for the masses to enjoy, and until then, you can all feel good in knowing that the blog followers here can enjoy that hipster moment of saying, “Yeah, I liked him before he was popular.”
Author’s Note: I liked myself long before any of you thought it was cool.
So, for those of you who see me alone, wandering the streets, shops, and roadways of the world, I promise you that there is a 99.9% chance that I’m in my own little world, writing something, or punching up dialogue in my head. I’ll probably look like a schizophrenic, moving my mouth as I whisper to myself; hell, I’m probably mentally choreographing an action scene between characters, if you see me wiggling my arms a little, too.
Well, maybe sometimes I wiggle them a lot.
Okay- so I accidentally punched a bread display one time during a very exciting scene idea I had at the grocery store, and they still throw me dirty looks when I walk through the bakery section, but who hasn’t accidentally dented a loaf of sourdough bread, and toppled a display rack by throwing punches while over-excitedly pretending to be a fictional person? That could have happened to anyone!
OKAY, IT WAS AN OLD LADY HOLDING TWO LOAVES OF SOURDOUGH BREAD, AND NOT A DISPLAY RACK! WHAT IS THIS, THE SPANISH INQUISITION?! JESUS!
Author’s Note: She lived. I don’t see what everyone made such a big fuss about. Learn to take a punch, grandma.
Recently, though, despite my incessant, unshakable, constantly-in-my-head way of existing, I managed to go out and do a few things in the actual world. Namely, I went and saw a murder clown movie with a friend of mine whom I’d never gone to the movies with before, and the very next day, attended the ten-year anniversary party of a bird store I’ve never been to before in my life, where I was singled out by a stage magician because I can’t keep my damn wisecracks to myself.
I realized today, as I sat down to type this, that during those events, my mind actually, miraculously, stopped doing work. (At one point during the party, I thought about work a little bit, but for the most part, no creating happened.) It was, in retrospect, a big relief to experience. (And now I’ve gone and screwed that up by sitting down to write a blog post.) So, rambling preface aside, here’s my advice to you today:
Taking time away from your projects may actually be more beneficial, and give you fresh perspective on your project.
I will frequently find myself running scenes in a loop in my head, like a skipping record, for those of you who are old enough to remember that experience first-hand. (Shut up! You’re old.) But, sometimes, as important as it is to be creating, it’s just as important to stop creating. Give that big ol’ creativity engine a break.
As I’ve mentioned before, I use movies and video games as a way to shut my brain down for a little while. Some of those things I use to detach from the creative process will actually inspire more creations for me later down the line, which is an added side-benefit. It’s sort of like those scenes in every detective story where the detective can’t solve the crime, and is about to give up, until someone throws out some key line of dialogue to bring the whole case together.
“Hey, did you see this ad in the paper for knife-throwing classes this weekend? I should go. I’d love to learn something cool like knife-throwing. Anyway… let’s get back to the case. How do you think this guy got stabbed from across the room, Detective Haberdasher?”
Author’s Note: “Detective Haberdasher” is a grizzled bowler-hat wearing detective, who takes no guff, always gets his man, and specializes in hat-related murder. Thursdays at 9:00 pm, PST.
So, don’t be afraid to unplug. If you’re burning the candle at both ends, maybe put that candle out for a while, and enjoy the dark for a bit. I know I’m not exactly a strong spokesman for the concept of ‘shut your brain off,’ but when I can actually pull it off, I usually turn out all the better for it; and I’m willing to bet that you’ll turn out a little better too. I’m sure you have a hobby you’ve neglected, a show to catch up on, or something on your streaming services you just haven’t gotten around to watching yet—now’s the time to dust those gems off.
So, the next time you find yourself overwhelmed by the work you are doing, and you just need to decompress, stop and close the laptop, shut off the PC, put your phone away, (again, not the strongest spokesman for that, but shut up,) and go do something new or different for a while.
My girlfriend set me up with a movie pass program, so I have excuses to go out and see movies at the theater for free, three times a week, and sometimes I still need to be reminded to go do that, because I just haven’t unplugged.
I found myself coming up with ideas for whole new characters and story concepts the last time I unplugged; plot threads I’d never have come up with while hunched over a keyboard, trying to bang out pithy dialogue. It was incredibly effective, and I didn’t even realize I was doing it. Even doing something as simple as people-watching out in public can clear your head, and get you looking at things from a newer, fresher perspective.
Don’t let your work or train of thought get stale by forcing something that’s not happening, or by flooding your work with too much effort. Step back. Do something else. Take the time, make the time, whatever. As long as you remember to ALWAYS KEEP UP WITH MY AMAZING BLOG, you should be fine ignoring everything else in your life for just a bit, and paying attention to something new.
Until next time, my Gidsciples! Now go out there and do nothing of consequence.
Tune in to “Detective Haberdasher” this Thursday to find out how an old lady got punched in the bakery section of a grocery store. The answer may surprise you.