So, I’m
sure my 3 regular readers (is it up to 3 now?) have noticed that I haven’t
posted in nearly a month. And after
thinking about it, I think I have a reason (excuse) for that. I can’t really say for certain why, but
I’ve always felt like I’m at my creative best when I’m unhappy about
something. Sure, sometimes I can write
and come up with jokes when I’m in a good mood, but I always feel most inspired
when I’ve got something that is bugging the hell out of me (perhaps part of the
reason I have roommates?). Some of my
funniest moments are when I go on a rant about something that bothers me.
I do have some theories about why
my creativity depends on how miserable I am, because this would be a pretty lame
post if all I said was “haven’t felt like writing, later.” Knowing my brain as well as I do, I can
say with some level of assurance that it only has 2 settings (like a really
cheap toaster). When I’m in a good
mood, my brain is all “Tra-la-la! Parades and rainbows! Fun things are fun” as
I blindly coast through life not giving anything a second thought. This is in stark contrast to my brain’s
other setting; when something is bothering me.
On this setting, my brain thinks, and analyzes and critiques. And then it does all that over again. It would be super cool if I could direct all
of that thinking towards something like astrophysics or literally anything else
that would actually be useful, but instead the only thing I end up motivated to
do is to pick up a pen and start writing down all of the absurdities flowing
through my suddenly overactive brain.
Most of the things I think of and
subsequently write down are quickly thrown away because they’re just not funny
or relevant to anything (it’s such a huge change from what I actually do
post…). Then, I take the few things
that have the potential to be funny and meticulously tear them apart so I can
reconstruct them over and over in my mind, using different words, timing and
phrasing. Of these ideas that I’ve now
spent far too much of my day on, I finally feel comfortable with one or two of
them and I either throw out the rest or put them on a shelf for further work
(or, alternatively, to never touch them again).
What this does is (1) occupy my
time, (2) provide you with the best possible jokes/content that I can create
and (3) leave my desk a complete mess of half scribbled-on notebook pages
(possibly a fire hazard). See, one
thing I firmly believe is that just because you have the ability to write
doesn’t mean that you have the ability to write well. And knowing this distinction is what separates talented writers
from people posting fan fiction on Internet message boards (If anyone reading
this actually writes fan fiction, I didn’t mean that. You’re great and you should continue to follow your dreams no
matter how creepy and obsessive they are.
To everyone else, I totally meant that).
I’m sure by this point you’re
probably wondering what the point of this post is. And much like the rest of my life, I’m not really sure. I guess since I draw my creativity from
stress and unhappiness, if you truly care about and want me to succeed then you
should make it a priority to regularly disappoint me. And believe me when I say that I haven’t been avoiding my blog
because I didn’t feel like positing. I
just haven’t had anything to say because I’ve been in too good of a mood to be
inspired and because I care so much about only bringing my readers (I really do
hope it’s ‘readers’ plural!) the best content possible. It’s not you, it’s me.
-Ryan
-Ryan
No comments:
Post a Comment