Absorption and proficiency

One of the greatest gifts of this move to Belgium is that I have time to read for pleasure. Be it a book, magazine or news article, for the first time in years I truly have time to appreciate what others in my field are doing and try to learn as much as possible from them.

It took me two days to read Kevin Smith's book, "Tough Sh*t" which is part memoir, part advice, and part crude humor. And while I agree with Smith on many fronts -- including a sincere appreciation for the Great One -- what struck me most what his take on what happens when you're not forced to produce something new every day.

Smith talks a lot about how he spent year after year producing movies; not in the way we traditionally think of producers, but in writing, directing, acting and editing films. He was prolific once Clerks became the darling of the Sundance Film Festival. But what happens when you run out of ideas that mean something to you? He stopped to absorb the world around him, just like he did before his big break.

Sometimes I feel guilty about spending so much time reading, and not writing. But taking a cue from Smith, I've realized there are going to be times of prolific writing, photography, beading, scrapbooking and creating in general. Other times, I'm going to need to stop and look for inspiration.

I think that might have been one of the biggest issues I had with being a full time journalist in the internet age -- I still had to produce articles, even when the inspiration wasn't there. And while there is definitely something to be said for discipline, even for "creative" types, I can't remember any of the stories I wrote while I was uninspired.

On the other hand, I think about the conversations and interviews that inspired me he most while I was reporting full time, and I think about how I could pull two, maybe three different articles from an hour-long discussion. It was the ebb and flow of absorption and proficiency taking it's natural course, despite the fact that my writing deadlines would have demanded more consistency in production. Those are the articles I am most proud of; the ones that came from true inspiration, a need to tell the story that was in front of me.