Novelty v. Sameness
As a creative, I have a vested interest in ensuring I continue to create and produce. My product is my imagination, which sounds surreal, but true. I imagine things, I write them down, and people read them. (Still weird.)
Humans have been doing this for as long as humans have been. Cave paintings, bone flutes, songs and stories.
Nowadays, we use IG posts and sitcoms, but the idea is the same: sharing our collective imagination.
So how do I encourage my brain to continue to come up with fantastical stories? What do I feed it to allow it to flourish. The conundrum: novelty or sameness?
I have a desk. I have a chair I like, a candle I light when I’m writing. I like a certain type of pen. I pick the same type of music to play while I work. Sameness lets me get into the flow faster, let’s me pick up where I was the day before with ease. I can walk away from a project, and it will be waiting just where I left it when I return a hour or a day later.
Maybe its subliminal signaling, a Pavlovian reaction to the scent of the candle or the feel of the pen in my hand. These are the conditions in which I write, so if the conditions are present, I write.
Yet, by my own admission, I’ve been out seeking novelty. I’m backpacking, going to parties, reading new authors, eating at new restaurants. I was bored of writing. My ideas were crap, and I wanted to get out and do something exciting. I needed change.
It doesn’t have to be one or the other. You need both. Predictability and adventure. Structure and freedom.
I just went to get a snack and came back to my desk. The warm, piney smell of my candle met me at the door, and I immediately felt cozy and ready to write.
We need the novelty to appreciate the structure. Change to rejoice in our routine. My advice to you is to seek ways to establish a routine for creativity, give yourself that foundation, and then let yourself bend it. I don’t write at the same time every day, nor the same days a week. Some days I write for hours, others for twenty minutes.
But when I have work to do, I know I have the support of routine that allows me to be creative and whimsical with minimal effort or risk. This is what lets my imagination soar.
My first book, Archer 887, is a 2022 Indies Today Awards Contest Finalist, and is on sale now through online book retailers. Pick up a copy, leave a review, and let me know what you think!
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