Alone Is Better

          Not long ago I read “The Creative Habit” by Twyla Tharpe. The very first chapter is about establishing a ritual that ensures you force yourself to be creative. (What a great subject. Someone should blog about that concept. )

          One of the rituals (aka routines) she suggests is to sitting an empty room. Just sit there, all alone and let your mind wander. You sit in this empty room every day, starting at 2-3 minutes and working up to 10 minutes. This exercise is meant to break you free of any fear of an empty room or empty page. As your mind wanders, catch an interesting thought. Play around with it. If it turns out not to be that interesting, let it go and resume your mental wandering. Or maybe it is so interesting, you are compelled to go write it down, flesh it out. Great! That’s the ultimate goal. To generate compelling ideas that feed your creativity. If no interesting thoughts arrive in 10 minutes, extend the time a minute each day until you find your optimum time for creative musing. Make this a regular routine, daily or weekly or whenever you hit a dry spell, to refresh your creative well.

          When I read this, it started me thinking about my own routines as they relate to writing productivity. A long time ago I discovered I get more done if I pack up my computer and go to the coffee shop for a couple of hours. I thought it was because I like to be near other people, but now I’m rethinking that evaluation. After all, my family is nearby, often in the same room, when I work at home. And I didn’t need to go to a coffee shop in the last place we lived. There I was often alone all day and even had a dedicated office of my own.

          Hmmm. Maybe it isn’t people I need after all. Maybe it’s that aloneness. That opportunity to let my mind wander without distractions and thus free up my creativity. At a coffee shop, I have something to sip on while I work, so it is very much like my desk at home. Only different. At a coffee shop, I am essentially alone. There is no one to ask, “Where are the cookies?” or “What we are having for dinner?” or anything else to distract me from my thoughts. I’m even freed from those self-inflicted distractions, like housework or pleasure reading or projects that too often lure me away from the computer. Sitting there at the coffee shop, I have a large block of time in which there really is nothing else to do but write, edit or otherwise work on my stories. When I have nothing else to write (or it gets late enough), I can just pack up and go back to all those other activities, satisfied that they have not succeeded (today at least) in drowning out my creativity.

          Interesting thoughts. Maybe that’s the key to why I’ve been productive sometimes and not other times. Maybe that’s why I was more prolific when the kids were younger and my writing time was confined to the late hours when everyone else was in bed. Maybe I need more aloneness! An interesting concept for someone who has always considered herself a people person. Maybe you could benefit from some alone time, too.