I had a wonderful conversation with a friend about the lulls. She suggested that periods of downtime, or lulls, might be exactly what a writer needs to cultivate those ideas that brighten the page. It is nice to hear a contrasting voice to my initial opinions. That helps me refine my thoughts and reflect on what I truly want to believe moving forward. In this case, I’m refining my initial suggestion that the lulls are a bad thing. I still hold dear the idea of writing every day even if what comes out is pure nonsense. Now I don’t think that achieving your writing potential is as simple as I initially implied. There are a few factors to consider for reaching your potential. I’ll start with Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal development as a baseline for how you must write. The when and the how often of writing are equally important as is developing a reward system that reinforces your appreciation of the finished product.
If I just wrote the same stuff over and again I’d get stagnant and lazy. I watched this happen a few years ago as a Shadowrun writer. A friend and editor called me on it, questioning my style and even content as being ‘ordinary’. A writer can never be ordinary. The ZPD here is that idea that I have to continue finding the writing challenges that live on the bleeding edge of what I think I can do. A writer challenged is a writer engaged. On the other hand, a writer overburdened is a writer burnt out.
This is a philosophy that can be applied to most situations in regards to activating potential. Down the road I’ll talk about the time to write and consistency in general as well as reward systems. It is a lot to say. Too much for 10 minutes.
Some Thoughts:
- The Olympic athletes represent the best in the world at a given event. Consider that for a moment: Best in the world. The implications there are mindboggling.
- Work politics are very stupid and tend to boil down to the emotional fulfillment of individuals being hindered or advanced by the particular position they are in at the time. In other words, it is not about the work it is about how the people feel about themselves and each other. I suspect all politics boil down to the same thing.
- States that do not have pro teams tend to breed a sense of collegiate pride to the point where they will swear that college sports be the pros. Yeah, that’s not how things are in the real world. New Yorker’s don’t talk about how Syracuse football is better than Giants football. Nobody talks about watching Seton Hall instead of the Nets.