Sometimes Your Brain Just Goes Slack... (Ulog no. 4)
It has been a busy week around here, and now it's already the weekend.
Somehow, my "writing brain" seems to have gone slack today. It's not that I don't have plenty of things to write about-- I do-- I just don't quite seem able to find the inspiration to string meaningful words together.
Which may sound silly for someone who claims to have "100's of outlines" ready to go.
Stay with me, Here...
It's not exactly "writer's block," it's more case of not being able to focus very well, because I know I still have to do a ton more work this weekend, before I get to call it quitting time.
Maybe I should just go sit here...
I have several web pages to build, and I have to process and pack all my outstanding orders (for my eBay businesses), our daughter and son-in-law just arrived for a visit and then I have to go work at the gallery tomorrow.
In some strange way, I am feeling overwhelmed by things that haven't even happened.
I originally came onto Steemit-- almost 18 months ago, now-- because I missed keeping a "general" blog of random musings. Sure, I could have started another WordPress or Blogger blog, but this seemed like a nice way to break the usual routine.
I was hoping Steemit would fill that "gap" in my overall writing life... and it has. One of the things I used to do on my old blog (which I more or less let fade away in 2007) was sit down and just write "stuff" (much like this post) without any particular meaning. I found it to be a very effective way to empty my brain of "tension" and distracting thoughts.
So... that's basically what this post amounts to. Stress relief. I may come back tomorrow and post a REAL article. Or not.
Memory Lane, Again...
In response to something @merej99 wrote in a comment earlier, I ended up spending a little time looking at the "Wayback Machine," also known as the Internet Archive.
Road to nowhere in particular
It's a great tool and resource, if you're trying to find an old web site that has "gone away."
In this case, I was trying to see if I could find one of Mrs. Denmarkguy's old blogs from the infancy of blogging. At one time, she was a general blogger "of note" whose blog made CNN's list of top 10 most interesting blogs, somewhere around 1999 or 2000.
I didn't find her blog, but I found one of my own early efforts. It was interesting to see how much my writing style has NOT changed in the past 20 years... although I do seem to be a little more Zen with life, these days.
How About You? Have you every used the Wayback Machine to find one of your old web sites or blogs? How do you feel about what you created, "way back when?" Do you still write, when your brain "goes slack?" Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
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Created at 180728 01:06 PDT
I think I am in slack mode today... lol!! Cant say I have looked back much at my old blog posts but I used tk do that with my design work and was always amazed at how much my design skills had evolved as the years went on. You often dont notice the change as you live it but jumping back 5+ years the difference is quite stark.
Yeah, I've noticed that! I look back art art/creative stuff I did some years ago and compare it to now... and it's like "Wow, I used to be pretty primitive!"
But I guess that's how it's supposed to be... we learn and progress. At least I'd like to think so!
agreed!!!
lol @ primitive ;) although... I quite "like" primitive in certain instances :)
Well, yeah... and I like it sometimes in that "less is more" way!
Then there are days where I 100% know what I need to do. I see the words. I hear the words. They are not showing up the page when I try and type them. It’s not writers block more like I’m walking in mud. It will happen just take ten times longer than it should have. I still have to get stuff out on those days otherwise I start falling behind and motivation goes out the window. One day turns into two days and then oh its been a week.
THAT. Right there.
Yesterday, I sat down with a more or less complete rough draft I was going to polish up and put out there... and I actually dozed off in front of the computer. Not because I hadn't had sleep, but because I felt pretty much bored to tears with what I was looking at.
Well, not exactly...
I was bored with the process... I actually thought to myself "This is pretty good, but why can't it just finish itself?"
And I ended up just sending it back to the drafts folder and instead struggled to write the above two paragraphs, pretty much about nothing. And the only reason I even did that is much the same as what you hinted at... I gotta stay in the flow, or I'm just going to blow off a couple of weeks, before I realize it. And then it will be really hard to get back into things...
Fridays tend to be my days for it to hit. I have a community post I aim to put out those days and after I start thinking about next week’s content. So it’s always like “if I can just get this done” I’m now ahead for two days as far as my own flow goes.
I’ve been trying to spend more time outdoors these days. I know when I feel like “oh it’s nice outside” if I can I just go out for just 10-20 mins. Better then wasting energy and getting distracted with that feeling. I think that is what many are struggling with. I’ve noticed it a lot in peoples posts. Even when I talk with people you can just tell.
Whereas I have pretty much always known that writing is a "practice" and you have to keep after it every day... I haven't really managed to sell myself on the idea. Well, not completely, anyway.
Of course it's summer here, now... which really means something in Western Washington; we have daylight till 9:30 and a yard that creams for attention every time is rains and then a warm period follows. So my writing slacks off because "there's so much other stuff" clamoring for my attention.
Ripping out weeds is actually pretty good for creative inspiration...
This is very strange....
After months of writing 3/4/5 posts a day - every single day - this last 3 days...
blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....for some reason...
You're definitely not alone... it seems to be "going around," at the moment. Pretty much everywhere... quite a few off-Steemit bloggers I follow seem to be having some kind of "summer blahs."
As to WHY everyone seems in a temporary stupor, I don't know... but sometimes it does make me wonder about the whole "there's more between heaven and earth than we understand" saying.
I was looking through some old post yesterday (there must be some inspiration to be found somewhere! lol), and I wrote a post saying the same thing..
is there some psychic connectivity issues - that was quite few months ago, when I was on a lull (and steemit appeared to be).
But you're correct - it does make you wonder..
on a side not - I found I couldn't scroll back past the last 6 months ( I was looking to organize things) - I tired busy and the same thing...is the any easy way to fix this, do you know?)
(@drakos said 'github repo request' - webb app something something something...which I don't understand! lol. ...So just asking people before I go down that uncharted road..)
If I have to find something really old, I usually end up going to steemd.com, which is pretty much a "raw" blockchain viewer that basically logs every single things you've ever done. For example, your page would be here:
https://steemd.com/@lucylin
But it's cumbersome as hell. I did once take the trouble to go back and bookmark my original posts and even sort them by category into different folders... but decided it was just too time consuming.
The Steemit interface is not great for accessing old stuff, I suppose because posts are considered "dead" after seven days.
cheers for that mate - someone else pointed me in that direction as well- It's a pain , but at least its accessible!
An hour or three of copy pasting will give me my posts to keep safe...
Lucky for you that it's only once in a while...most of us are struggling to find the right words almost all the time...It get's even harder when you try to put it down in writing...🙂🙂
I can appreciate that. And if you're not used to writing a lot — even something like just keeping a personal journal — I'm sure it's even harder.
I'm showing my ignorance here, but what is a ulog?
It's basically a "personal journal entry" type post.
Here on Steemit, it was started by @surpassinggoogle, I think originally as a way to get people who had little to no experience writing a blog an easy entry point: Just write something about your life and your day, and forget about having a "topic."
Then it has kind of morphed and developed into something more, since a lot of people who have been here a while have picked it up... based on the idea that the web has typically been more about "information" than "people." So Ulogs are now also part of an initiative to build "the Internet of PEOPLE" rather than just "the Internet of INFORMATION."
You could argue that Farcebook and Instagram do that... but they are not really places to write and share thoughts; they are more just "post and run" venues.
Awesome! Thanks for the detailed explanation. I really appreciate it!
Sometimes I totally hit "slack mode", and it used to drive me crazy, but now, I just take a day off, completely, from all social media of any kind, and by the next day, my batteries are re-charged and my mind is working clearly again.
Yes, and I think that's an important part of keeping your mind from spinning out of control @lynncoyle1; I mostly end up with such "days off" because I have so damn much other stuff I need to catch up with in physical space!
Even so, working all day at something completely unrelated does seem to serve me well as a "refresher."
haha @denmarkguy, all the damn stuff we pile in a corner, trying to ignore it until it gets way too big 😎
Yes, sometimes it happens. If we don't get more in what we love to do, we should find it.
I also, sometimes, do write posts about my previous visits at some places when i don't get anything else.
I think it just tells us that even if you are a "creative person," creativity doesn't happen according to a timetable... sometimes it's there, and sometimes it's not. Just part of the cycle of life.
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