5 ms·
This is a great parody/insight into that feeling of "if I just get the conditions right, I can get started." Like all the great writers who just need six months
by Nition 6y ago
This is a great parody/insight into that feeling of "if I just get the conditions right, I can get started." Like all the great writers who just need six months in a forest cabin to write their great novel, but they never start it in the one hour of time they already have every evening.
- hackerbabz 6y agoI watched a really helpful video on what the creator called "The Toolbox Fallacy". I can't start a project until I have every tool I need in my toolbox...but it seems every time I buy a tool I discover another one I need. I think of that every time I put something off - "Am I making up a reason not to do this? Can I really just do it all now?"
- _0ffh 6y agoLol yeah, my current FPGA project has been on ice for four weeks now while I figure out the Verilog preprocessor features that I really, really need before I continue... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- naasking 6y agoNot to mention, sometimes doing without the tool let's you find a novel solution. At the very least, it's a great learning experience.
- Cthulhu_ 6y agoI read a thing from Stephen King (IIRC) that poo-poohed the writer's block / "right circumstances" thing, he approached it more as a job, you sit down and write. Overpower the "I don't know what to write" thing, don't wait for creativity to come, etc. Maybe one day I'll unlazy myself and look it up again. But the most common advice I've seen against procrastination is to just force yourself to do five minutes of your task. Just five, then you can do whatever the heck you want instead. Of course, it also helps if you work off of a todo list - so you know what needs to be done - and prioritize the work - so you don't end up with choice paralysis because there's a dozen things you could be doing.
- badpun 6y agoThis approach probably works for non-creative tasks, but most of King's novels are just mediocre, which I guess reflects his factory-like attitude to writing.
- fenwick67 6y agoIt's easy to dump on King for being a philistine, but it's a stretch to imply his work is non-creative.
- badpun 6y agoFor me the main problem is that the writing seems unspired and lazy - i.e. the language, actual sentences and paragraphs looks like something slapped together without that much regard for quality or excellence (which, given his writing process and speed, is probably exactly what happens).
- tomjen3 6y agoI haven't read most of his work, but you can take the advice and use that as your draft. I can't imagine many writers not having to refactor their writings, possibly multiple times.
- tomjen3 6y agoIt would be hyperbolic to say that the only way I ever get anything done is to set a ten minute timer and then commit to do The Thing for ten minutes[1], but it is massively helpful. Curiously, sometimes I then get mad at the timer because it beeped[0] and I was working on The Thing. [0]: it beeped because the time was up. [1]: if you can't do The Thing for ten minutes because of physical limits, this trick does not apply. Also, it is totally fine to stop when the ten minutes are up, the goal is not to trick yourself into doing more work, but to get over the issue of getting started.