When I started as a full time journalist at Understanding AI, I thought I would want to write less in my free time. I couldn't have been more wrong.
I periodically write essays to my partner. I long to investigate topics I don't have time for at work. I have rekindled my journals, and I even feel this blog starting to return to life. I want to write more!
Maybe the blog bit is because I finished a post recently. Every time I publish an essay, I want to write another. This last piece I wrote, on why books should have blank backs, got me thinking of museum descriptions. I noted that I prefer blurb-free art, and now I'm itching to investigate. Should I call up an art history friend? Should I write up a first principles take instead?
Writing makes it easier to write more. Thinking makes it more fun to think more. This is an important positive feedback loop. The more one does art, the more warmed up one is to do art.
Of course, the reverse is true too. After a long break, writing an essay or a poem feels like harvesting from a dead garden. Every idea feels like a dead flower, bland or unoriginal. It's daunting to clear the bone-dry plants away and start anew.
The only way out is through. If one keeps at it, digging past the desiccated potatoes, they'll eventually find something alive, even if it's an inch-tall weed. When they care for it, it'll start to bloom. Non-metaphorically: make bad art if it's been a bit. The good stuff will come later.
Of course, the best way to grow a garden is to water it regularly. And the best way to water it regularly is to remember it exists. So even if it's some frivolous flower that gets you into your creative garden, cherish it. That time is not wasted; you'll get your "real art" done too, if it matters enough.
In a perfect world, I'd edit my hobby writing, craft my words after I've cut them. But it's better to finish in one sitting than languish in two, and we cannot all reach perfection in one essay. If anything, writing mediocrities frequently gives me the gumption to polish the things I really care about. "It will be rough" is not an excuse. It's a reason to try.
National novel writing month is this month. I plan to write 10,000 words between work and this blog. Anyone care to join me? (Yes, you can write a novel if you'd prefer...).
Post-script: a poem
I initially thought of writing this essay after I failed at writing a poem. Every first line I tried devolved into cliche.
After finishing this post, I wrote a poem in the shower. I hope you enjoy this miniature:
Gavotte
Each second has the same brush strokes,
The foam upon the water.
Each moment moves into itself:
Time dances with the river.