ASK & DISCUSS
INDEXDecisions, decisions
11 years ago - Ellie Rofe
Mark Zuckerberg has 20 of the same grey t-shirt and Obama only ever wears a grey or blue suit. But apparently their lack of fashion chutzpah serves a higher purpose: they are trying to avoid decision fatigue.
A writer's poor decisions might not have the same impact as a politician's or judge's but given the vast number of choices we make on any project or idea, we must be subject to this kind of fatigue.
Do you have a mundane routine so that your mind is free for creative decisions? Do you think you just have more 'decision stamina' than most? Or... is it possible that decisions made when fatigued - those 'bad' decisions - are the ones that break new ground? I can't decide.
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11 years ago - Alève Mine
1) Meditation, or at least rest.
2) Eat something if it's been a while since your last meal.
3) Use guts a little more on the purely creative tasks. The first thing that comes to your mind or to directly to your hand. Not only is it often the best decision, but analyzing everything takes a lot more time and energy.
I mostly, outside of some occasions, wear the same clothes, too, because my mind is elsewhere, but it has a social impact, depending on your position. There, too, you could first design yourself a process that makes it seamless to vary what you wear. Yet there are always other priorities :)
11 years ago - Dan Selakovich
Ellie, a new study out shows that lack of sleep can physically shrink the brain. Perhaps this might be a solution.
11 years ago - Ellie Rofe
Sorry for the slow reply. A long week last week! I hope the acting went well Aline, and the you're feeling good about the script. What was hard to take? Was it emotionally draining in the process or the content?
Dan - thanks for that compliment. I'm trying not to let my head grow too large being compared to Mark Haddon. Unfortunately, it's already at mammoth proportions and showing now signs of shrinking, so you may be responsible for the birth of a monster... ;)
11 years ago - Alève Mine
@Dan do they say if the skull collapses at some point?
@Ellie acting went great, thanks. I could clearly feel the viewers' seriousness about human tragedy. They felt to me like scientists observing a phenomenon. As for the script it was the content. I guess I put myself fully in the characters when writing and this was an attempted murder, which turns into another. Not my first, but this is not an action movie where you tend to be more detached and plan to figure things out with a fight choreographer. This feels different. No explosions, no kungfu. They talk about it, they argue first. It is more intimate. I guess it gets easier over time? Some regeneration process is required after such a thing. How is your decision process doing?
11 years ago - Ellie Rofe
@Dan - I've just been surfing for a week at a campsite which was invaded by a Belgian techo festival.
"Doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof, doof..." - til 5am every day. Consider brain truly shrunk.
@Aline - I have been writing a script with an unwilling murder in it. It is tough to work through, I agree. The decision process is going very well thanks. Exercise - tough exercise - definitely helps shake away any cobwebs.
11 years ago - Alève Mine
Ellie, I see that what you want is to write and you don't feel good about yourself. You probably know what to do. The last thing that will help is to investigate about how others schedule their day. Use your energy wisely. Says she who is writing this while thinking about the script that kept her awake into the night. I'll go and finish that now. If ll goes well.
Your clothing is irrelevant for writing as long as it doesn't constrict your lymph or blood flow.
11 years ago - Dan Selakovich
Albert Einstein apparently had the same clothes theory too. As for me, when editing, every decision I make when I'm exhausted, sucks.
11 years ago - Ellie Rofe
You see now I love you all. I often go to write and think "crikey I'm tired, this feels like crawling up a greased slope" and so settle down for 40 winks. I now have corroboration that this is sound creative sense and not (just) laziness.
I am trying to 'routinise' the day though. It's always been anathema to me, but I've relinquished the idea that variety and spontaneity is romantic and exciting. It just means I end up not getting pen to paper enough. And I eat badly, don't exercise and get fat. Then I have to spend even more time deciding what to wear.
On a slightly less mundane note, this Brain Pickings illustration may not be particularly scientific but it is beautiful:
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/12/16/writers-wakeup-times-literary-productivity-visualization/
And this is one for anyone who loves reading about writers' routines:
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/11/20/daily-routines-writers/
I'm off to have a quick nap before the afternoon session...
11 years ago - Franz von Habsburg FBKS MSc
There is an old saying: "You should wear your clothes: they should not wear you."
If you wear say bright colours, others are looking at them and not your face. Only strong characters can carry it off. Perhaps important for politicians. I've noticed Chris Tarrant on "Millionaire" who always wears different coloured suits. Always solid colours, never patterned, with a shirt and tie in the same colour to match but in different tones and again in solid colours and not patterned. Always well thought through.
11 years ago - Marlom Tander
Creative work when too tired, when reviewed when rested, inevitably proves to be time utterly wasted.
Not to be confused with daydreaming, which is often very productive indeed.
11 years ago - Alève Mine
Great, Ellie, keep it up!
11 years ago - Dan Selakovich
Ellie, I absolutely loved this paragraph:
I am trying to 'routinise' the day though. It's always been anathema to me, but I've relinquished the idea that variety and spontaneity is romantic and exciting. It just means I end up not getting pen to paper enough. And I eat badly, don't exercise and get fat. Then I have to spend even more time deciding what to wear.
It reminds me so much of the novelist, Mark Haddon, a fellow brit I think. Thanks for the chuckle!
11 years ago - Ellie Rofe
Aleve, a heartfelt thank you for your kindness but it seems rushing off a response while at work didn't help with my tone. I was being tongue in cheek. I feel grand and am writing more than ever - no matter what I am wearing...
I am interested in productivity just out of intellectual curiosity. I find it interesting to hear how creative people work and identifying any common threads. Ironically, this is just idle speculation. Because what these writers' routine vignettes really reveal is that we are infinitely variable, complex and curious little creatures. And that there is no universal method or secret. Just work and passion and persistence.
Good luck with the script. I hope it's going well.
11 years ago - Alève Mine
Now that's a seamless process to vary clothing. :)
Colour in clothing? See India!
11 years ago - Alève Mine
Thanks!
11 years ago - Alève Mine
Pilot episode script finished. :) 15-30', depending on how it is done.
Part of it was hard to take to be honest. I don't remember having been that affected by previous scripts. Now I need write another short. And do the acting homework before tomorrow evening's session. Groceries first, maybe...
10 years, 12 months ago - Dan Selakovich
Haha! I'm relieved that you are truly on the road to recovery, thanks to techno. It's also nice to see that you've incorporated the murderous rage that techno brings into your script.