Content Creation: Creativity Seldom Happens in a Straight Line!

Creativity seldom happens in a straight line. I think we all experience ebbs and flows in both the quality and quantity of our writing... or other creativity, be it composing music, painting, or something else.

We are often told that the key to success — particularly as creators on the web — is to be consistent and to show up and do something every day. It's a good point... but is it really realistic?

I do my best, mind you. I think the secret — at least this applies to me — is to try to make the absolute most of the high points when they happen.

This morning, I'm took that idea a little bit overboard because for a while I seemed to have entered one of those rare Zen like states where the thoughts were flowing freely and the ideas kept coming into my mind more quickly than I could even take them down.

Thank goodness for modern technology!

Although my absolute preference for writing is old-fashioned longhand, it's basically too slow when things get frantic. And I can't actually type fast enough or accurately enough to get all my ideas down as they happen. So at times like these I turn to voice to text technology and simply let the mic sit on the table as I "dictate" out loud each thought that comes into my head.

For many writers, this might be a somewhat alien technique. However I found it to be very effective, simply from the perspective of capturing ideas when they occur. Of course, some of it turns out to be absolute garbage, too!

I find that the maximum effectiveness comes if I just allow the process to unfold and keep talking without paying attention to whether or not things are cohesive or make sense. I don't try to edit or organize anything as I'm talking , although I'll periodically add a “side note to myself” just so I can remember the context of a particular train of thought I might be chasing before I chase down a different one.

The nice thing about it, is precisely this idea of "capturing" thoughts.

In about 45 minutes, I managed to create the underlying bones for no less than seven different potential post articles across five different blogging venues!

In these days where we all feel rushed and are often struggling to get as much as we possibly can into our days, having moments like this are to be used to their greatest possible advantage, and even though I don't particularly like this type of technology or enjoy creating this way I find that it's very effective just in terms of the volume of work I can get done in a relatively short time.

So if you find yourself getting stuck one day, and feel a little unsure as to how you're going to get started again, try the world of the voice to text method. If it's not already on your phone as an app, there's a pretty respectable version built into Google Docs.

Yes you will absolutely have to go back in and edit and try to make sense of some of the occasions where your speech turned into a jumble, but it's relatively minor chore, on the whole.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great rest of your week!

How about YOU? Do you have a preferred way to capture creative thoughts? Are you fairly "steadily" creative, or does your creativity come and go? Have you ever used voice-to-text? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — NOT A CROSSPOST!!!)
Created at 20210623 23:15 PDT
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