Posts
I felt like pointing us all to Subnormality:
http://www.viruscomix.com/page473.html
(For those with vision impairments, it's a comic about a man who pays a woman to write/make up a story for him, in the vein of hiring a prostitute. It's a horror story, and when he's had his terrors, they chat on the way back to her street corner about why she accepts cash to write trash. She says writing is an addiction, and tells of how she started writing casually in school, and now she's totally hooked and has to feed her addiction somehow.)
I find it interesting to liken writing to an addiction because when I'm in the zone, it is totally addictive. Everything that drags me away from the PC gets balanced against the loss of the creative spark in that window. If something falls below that mark, then I cancel it/ignore it and stay on the PC. I try to keep it under control, because I can ignore everything when I am in a creative flurry, and I get very excitable about interruptions. Having two small children isn't good for an interruption free writing career! I also don't want their memories of their mum to be of me yelling at them to leave me alone! So, I try to keep my 'creative flurries' in the safe zones - when they are not around.
At the same time, I am aware that writing is not a true addiction. The destructive nature of a true addiction is an awful, awful thing to be a part of, be close to, or be near. Hopefully writers are a bit easier on their friends, spouses and children! I like creative flurry as it indicates the chaotic nature of my word production; and a certain sense of speed or urgency.
How do you describe your creative flurries? Do you find it addictive? What other words would you use to describe the way you feel about your creative flow?
--
Sarah
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I don't think I'm addicted to writing because I can live without it - but I'd rather not! When I'm in the Zone I just keep writing - but then, I am well past the Small Children stage, thank heavens! I think it is amazing that anyone in that stage can write at all:-)
ReplyDeleteWell, my son is 12 and has got to a much more independent stage now , but I know I can totally disappear into my writing and still tend to write new material at night when I won't be interrupted (and won't be grumpy because of being interrupted)! For me, the creative flow is obsessive, no matter what it's being applied to...and now, nearing the end of a first draft, I'm actually looking forward to the next stage of editing and revising, so that I can ease up on the 'creative flurry' just a little and take some time out. Well, that's the theory, anyway! :-)
ReplyDelete