Sometimes my brain feels like a tabula rasa, ye olde blank slate. It's comparable to when a computer's hard drive has been scrubbed, wiped clean of any data. Or like an Etch-a-Sketch that has been turned over and had everything magically erased.
That means there is nothing inside my head except the default operating system--which ensures I can continue breathing, and functioning at the cellular level, fortunately. Those activities, as essential as they are, don't require any creative ability, so my brain pretty much delegates those to its hard-working minions.
You would think this particular state of mind would make it easier to come up with new ideas, since it's clean and clear inside the noggin, with none of the usual clutter and chatter. It's pristine and silent, the perfect conditions for hordes of creative invaders to overtake it.
Only it doesn't work that way for me.
When I'm in "blank brain" mode, my brain acts more like a nonstick surface, and ideas, if they appear, slide right off and disappear. It's almost as if my brain has been wiped down with an anti-cling cloth, so ideas just zip right through, feeling completely unwelcome. If a creative urge does try to stick, my brain is one half of a Velcro strip – the half that is all smooth and can't grab hold of anything even if it wanted to.
I used to worry about this stage of the writing process. I'd fret and wring my hands, convinced I had written the last words I'd ever write. I knew for a certainty my writing days were over. It took a long time, and an unnecessary amount of angst, to understand that it IS a stage of the writing process, and a very valuable one.
It is actually a sabbatical for my brain, a chance for it to rest and recalibrate, so it doesn't burn out and lose its enthusiasm for wordplay.
During this stage, it's a good time to read something in a different genre than I usually choose, to startle my brain with something intriguing and challenging. I scribble in notebooks, collecting these musings and turning them into blog posts. One of my favorite things to do is hang out with books, in libraries and bookstores, since my brain considers these "family visits".
This is also a good time to take your brain out on a play date (see Butt Outta Chair), essentially filling your brain up with other sensory experiences, which helps the creativity thermometer gradually rise back to normal levels.
Just as my writing production has an ebb and flow (some days I spend 14 hours on a project, so it's to be expected that another day I might spend 1, or 4), I think my brain's creative abilities have a certain rise and fall too. When it has nothing to give, I try not to take. I don't want to end up in a deficit mode with my brain's creative output, so that it decides to stay blank forever.
When I give my brain this chance for a well-deserved R&R, it comes back so refreshed and raring to get back into the writing arena, it's almost hard to keep up. It's excited to show me what it's brought back from its inward travels, and the resulting creativity is always—always—more spectacular than I could have anticipated.
I like this...a lot. "When it has nothing to give, I try not to take."
I think that is a theme that is integral to life in general, not just writing. I know for me the blanks slate with writing is scary due to how easy it is to just live there. It's just a relaxing place to be, where everything is new and fresh. Sort of like the butterfly drawing the eye... Oooo! Pretty!
Easy to just stay there and not stir outside to where the ideas are. What is that rule of physics?
The tendancy of something not in motion to remain not in motion. And man, I butchered that, but that's the fear for me.
Maureen
Posted by: Maureen | June 28, 2010 at 01:58 AM
Thanks, Maureen. I know what you mean, that fear that you'll stay in that blank slate place. But it seems like the brain has to keep moving after a certain amount of time, so it'll start poking you with new ideas and then it's up to you to cooperate with its prodding. LOL
A possible analogy of the "blank slate" phase is going to sleep every night and then waking up refreshed in the morning. It's not a permanent state, but something that is needed to get to the next phase.
Posted by: Donna Cummings | June 28, 2010 at 09:47 AM
Too true. My therapist says when depression hits that if you just sit with it, the boredom factor will eventually drive you to action. Which is true as long as the chemicals don't set the anchor too deep.
I also think the trick with writing is to be careful with the blank brain when ideas start to surface. Don't scare them away by getting frantic but don't ignore them to the point where they fade away.
It's a trick place to slip in and out of correctly...
"...the winner takes it all..."
I have ABBA on the brain...
Posted by: Maureen | June 29, 2010 at 01:08 PM
You know, if your blog writing is any indication of your book writing, you are destined for the best seller list. You are so good at these.
I've been guilty of overloading my brain for the last several years. School and work and parenting and even coaching and event planning added on at times. Cutting back to the bare essentials has made all the difference in my writing. Proven by the fact only when I cut all the crap, I actually finished an MS!
I have short spurts of blank, mostly when I've been working on a scene too long and the brain is tired of thinking about it. But I've yet to get to the point of not having any new ideas waiting their turn. That's going to be a scary place when it finally happens.
BTW, all this and you don't tell us what your next idea is? Not even a hint?! Come on. Pwease?
Posted by: Terri Osburn | June 29, 2010 at 01:43 PM
Maureen, I think you're right about the boredom factor stirring things up. And when the ideas start bubbling to the surface, I just slowly reach for the laptop or a piece of paper and jot things down. . .quietly, so the brain can't get skittish! LOL
Posted by: Donna Cummings | June 29, 2010 at 08:06 PM
Terri, thanks for the compliments. *blushes* The blog posts are a nice way to work out things I'm thinking about while I'm in the midst of my fiction writing. I'm glad you find them enjoyable.
I'm glad you got to pare down some of that overload! Look at what wonderful results too -- finishing your manuscript (which I'm so glad of, because I can't wait to read all about Nate!)
As for my next idea. . .I've got a couple of things trying to get my attention. LOL I still have a few revisions on something else to finish before I can indulge a new book. BUT I can tell you it will definitely have a hunky hero and a sassy heroine! LOL
Posted by: Donna Cummings | June 29, 2010 at 08:11 PM
Love this! But.......what if it NEVER comes back?
-- driving around in the car in the middle of the night calling "Heeeeere, brainie, brainie, brainie!" ---
Donna, I love how you always give us such good, nutritious and delicious(ly funny) food for thought!
Posted by: Bren | June 29, 2010 at 09:40 PM
Bren, I'm glad you find my food for thought so nutritious! LOL I worry about it being junk food, which has its own merits, now that I think about it. :)
I understand the fear that your brain will never get back to its creative endeavors. But I also know it does return, since it enjoys the spark of discovering new things. Think of all those excited moments when your brain is shooting out great ideas left and right -- it wants to get back to that state, so once it's rested, that's where it's headed. It just requires a little faith. :)
Posted by: Donna Cummings | June 30, 2010 at 08:54 AM