An Unsolicited Peek

There are two things that I do to try to come up with ideas when writing. The first is the more appealing, which is to stimulate myself with a lot of input, the way that Johnny Five did in "Short Circuit". This is the more appealing because it's not boring. It's also the far less effective technique. My brain is far too tied up in what it's taking in to put anything out. Besides, I'm taking stuff in all the time. There's no need to do that by the time I write.

What works is that other method: sensory deprivation. I have to isolate myself from every possible form of external stimuli. Noises are typically harmful, to the point that even music is too much a distraction, let alone anything like a television show whose dialogue would have me too engaged in the story. I try not to get too extreme, but if I'm having a hard time I have to start cutting things out. It's a wonder I write about anything except monastic life.

I naturally have my door shut, but only after applying a mean note warning off would-be interrupters. I then shut off about anything that makes noise or puts out light. My blinds are apt to be drawn shut unless I'm writing at night. At night I'll have the blinds open so that what little light there is out there will let me see my keyboard. This allows me to turn off the lights in my room. Finally, I can start to actually think and focus.

It's scary to do so. I was thinking recently about how much of what I do is designed to keep my thoughts at bay. Introspective thinking is often painful, because one must confront a lot of failures, embarrassments and ugly thoughts. Loud, flashy entertainment drowns that stuff out, but I achieve little that way. I actually create some interesting stuff when I withdraw from the world and wall myself off in my mind. It's no good if I haven't brought anything from the outside in there with me, but staying out there is no good in any way.

My little redoubt here is imperfect, of course. I would love to have blackout curtains, because there's no way to shut out all the sunlight as it is. I also wish that I could dampen the sound better. In my bedroom I can hear to some degree most of what is happening in my apartment. There's water running, there are footsteps, there are voices and a myriad of other things. My mind desperately flails around for something distracts to cling to or to escape on. Maybe I could get one of those sensory deprivation chambers. I'd hate to seem weird, though. People would find a way of making it sound weird that I was writing in a sealed, darkened tube of cold water.