benlehman

Well, I have to say I sort of have two mental modes, when it comes to work of whatever sort. I'll get back to why this is relevant.

There's "taking it in", which involves reading, chatting (on the Forge or wherever), and so on. Some of this is obviously about what I'm working on, and a lot of it isn't.

Then there's "fugue state," in which I write continuously, like a demon, for a couple of days straight, usually generating somewhere in the vicinity of 75-100 pages of dense text, fueled by lots of coffee, cigarettes, and usually beer. The final product is in correct English, densely argued, and coherent, though it may not be terribly comprehensible. The point being this isn't notes.

Editing is a variant of the fugue state, and happens relatively late in the process.

I find that I have to do both, and one of the things I find very useful about the Forge is that it allows me to freewheel in the "taking it in" phase, grappling with things intellectually and thus keeping me stimulated even though a lot of what's happening over there has little or nothing to do with what I'm supposed to be working on. Then, when the fugue hits, I go totally silent on the Forge. I usually don't even turn on my email program, much less reply. This ticks people off sometimes, because I'll do it right in the middle of an online conversation, but frankly if people on a web bulletin board can't wait three days then f-ck 'em.

So while I support you in taking a little time away from the Forge, Ben, I think you would be well advised to check in periodically, to jumpstart your creative system.

As to self-consciousness and hyperaware and whatnot -- I don't agree, though I admit I may be rather on the strange side. I find that theory is usually not only facilitating but ultimately more interesting than most practice. I prefer to work in abstraction, and I never understand why people keep wanting to take an elegant abstract formulation and say, "Well, see, it's just like a piston engine." No, it isn't. It's an abstraction. I'd rather be so aware and theoretical that it actually interferes than generate a nice product that has no theoretical originality.