The Inertia of Creativity

It has been way too long since I have written anything. It seems that, over the last month, my life has gotten extremely busy and consumed much of the time I normally dedicate to this site. The result has been a great deal of vain ambition, early morning alarm clocks, and blank pages. No unique perspectives, no insights into the rambling thoughts of a diversified dilettante. It seems that the further away my calendar got from my last post, the more difficult it became to conjure the energy or the inspiration to pen another essay. Which brings us to today, three weeks from the date of my last essay.

It seems that, similar to the Newtonian concept that movement begets movement, further accelerating the speed at which an object travels, there is also a sort of inertia that relates to the production of thoughts and ideas. The object at rest in this experiment was my blog, and it certainly has tended to stay at rest over the last few weeks. A few incipient essay ideas have flourished, but nothing enthralling enough to budge the apathy that had lodged between my brain and my keyboard. I kicked my own ass and told myself to get back to work. I thought this would be enough motivation to spur action and renew production. Unfortunately, my desire to write did not overwhelm my lack of inspiration. With the impending arrival of our first child, the general rigors of work bearing down, and coordinating logistics for buying a house, my brain was as vapid as a middle school girl in an advanced philosophy class.

Do you want to know a secret? When I become bereft of new ideas, I find that writing about the object of my ire is great way to spur activity, which is why this essay is all about the one thing that stops me from writing: writers block. If you can't find inspiration, it is likely that your brain is going to focus on exactly the source of your frustration. So why not use your greatest weakness as strength for your craft? The words I am stringing along in this essay are not Pulitzer worthy, but they accomplish an imperative objective. This essay will hopefully break loose the rust of my joints and the cobwebs of my mind, initiating again the cycle of ever increasing creative flow. Just as sedimentary inaction is exponentially difficult to break, production also builds on itself, so getting started is half the battle.

This foray back into writing may not kick-start me back into a regular posting schedule, but it is the first step back into doing what I love. It is amazing how difficult it can be to overcome apathy. But picking myself up from my own lack of drive and forcing my fingers to the keys is the only way forward.

So here is to another great few weeks of essays. I hope you enjoy the scattered ideas I share, and if you are inspired to do so, send me your thoughts on my musings.

~CW