I’m starting to have a love/hate relationship with these posts. I miss Tweeting, that’s for sure. But I don’t know that these are scratching the same itch. I mean, I guess I know they’re not. So, why am I still doing them? It’s a great question. Let’s try and tackle that today.
If these are truly an alternative outlet for Tweets, fine. The logic breaks down very quickly in a number of ways, but we’ll pretend it’s an apples-to-apples comparison for now. I enjoy the freedom from specific subjects that Tweeting had for me. Want to talk about the World Cup? Great! Need to vent about changes to a product you used to spend most waking hours thinking about? Have at it! Have some ideas about our elected officials? Share them widely! But with that boundlessness also comes indecision. It’s like having access to almost every song ever released and not knowing what to listen to. And this choice overload ends up leading to posts like this.
To describe what’s happening in real time, I started typing today because I have a self-imposed deadline. I basically only have this hour to craft these words and post them before a series of other commitments take over the rest of my day. Obviously, there is no real downside to not getting one of these up tonight. But I like continuing the streak. At least until I’m out of Soundgarden songs to use as titles for these things. With these constraints in mind, I started typing that first paragraph up there. And now, we’re here. Together. Are you still with me? Good. Now, back to that choice overload idea.
Because I have such free rein, sometimes I have a hard time deciding what to write about. But I still want to write. Obviously, I could do that on my own without subjecting you to having to read these, but forcing myself to post every weekday holds me accountable, at least to myself, to my own commitment. I need to keep writing if I want to get better at writing. I think that’s how that works. But what to write about. The anniversary of the war in Ukraine? The way 2024 primaries are shaping up? Content moderation in front of the Supreme Court? My hopes to get into the Noise Pop show I want to see tonight? When news or events drive me in a typing direction, those posts usually come quickly. But days like these tend to overwhelm me. Too much freedom. So, we end up with another post about process. But I find those fascinating.
As I explore more of my abilities and collaboration tendencies, I find that I love learning about how other people tackle problems. Are they list makers, like me? Do they use the motivation of a deadline to push their ideas further? Can they “kill their darlings” quickly in order to serve a better idea? The more we talk about our creative processes, the better we’d all be, I think. There’s no magic sauce to coming up with a great idea. And If I can co-opt a technique from you that makes me better at creative problem solving, then I’m all ears. For me, it’s a lot like setting up a guitar with an alternate or unusual tuning. At the very least, I’ll be trying to create something completely new to me. Stretching myself like that, hopefully, leads to me learning something new. And that’s never a bad thing, in my book.
Eyelid’s Mouth
22 February 2023
Tabling creativity.
I’m starting to have a love/hate relationship with these posts. I miss Tweeting, that’s for sure. But I don’t know that these are scratching the same itch. I mean, I guess I know they’re not. So, why am I still doing them? It’s a great question. Let’s try and tackle that today.
If these are truly an alternative outlet for Tweets, fine. The logic breaks down very quickly in a number of ways, but we’ll pretend it’s an apples-to-apples comparison for now. I enjoy the freedom from specific subjects that Tweeting had for me. Want to talk about the World Cup? Great! Need to vent about changes to a product you used to spend most waking hours thinking about? Have at it! Have some ideas about our elected officials? Share them widely! But with that boundlessness also comes indecision. It’s like having access to almost every song ever released and not knowing what to listen to. And this choice overload ends up leading to posts like this.
To describe what’s happening in real time, I started typing today because I have a self-imposed deadline. I basically only have this hour to craft these words and post them before a series of other commitments take over the rest of my day. Obviously, there is no real downside to not getting one of these up tonight. But I like continuing the streak. At least until I’m out of Soundgarden songs to use as titles for these things. With these constraints in mind, I started typing that first paragraph up there. And now, we’re here. Together. Are you still with me? Good. Now, back to that choice overload idea.
Because I have such free rein, sometimes I have a hard time deciding what to write about. But I still want to write. Obviously, I could do that on my own without subjecting you to having to read these, but forcing myself to post every weekday holds me accountable, at least to myself, to my own commitment. I need to keep writing if I want to get better at writing. I think that’s how that works. But what to write about. The anniversary of the war in Ukraine? The way 2024 primaries are shaping up? Content moderation in front of the Supreme Court? My hopes to get into the Noise Pop show I want to see tonight? When news or events drive me in a typing direction, those posts usually come quickly. But days like these tend to overwhelm me. Too much freedom. So, we end up with another post about process. But I find those fascinating.
As I explore more of my abilities and collaboration tendencies, I find that I love learning about how other people tackle problems. Are they list makers, like me? Do they use the motivation of a deadline to push their ideas further? Can they “kill their darlings” quickly in order to serve a better idea? The more we talk about our creative processes, the better we’d all be, I think. There’s no magic sauce to coming up with a great idea. And If I can co-opt a technique from you that makes me better at creative problem solving, then I’m all ears. For me, it’s a lot like setting up a guitar with an alternate or unusual tuning. At the very least, I’ll be trying to create something completely new to me. Stretching myself like that, hopefully, leads to me learning something new. And that’s never a bad thing, in my book.
See you tomorrow?