Love this. I often find delay is decay... up to a certain point. I write as much as I can as soon as I have an idea, but eventually I arrive at a point where I don’t know what comes next, or where there’s a hole in the story. Then I have to step back and chew on it, think about what comes next. I’ve been chewing on one particular hole in a story for almost a year now, but I think about it everyday. I have the timeline for the novel in my office, and a picture on my fridge that represents the story. It keeps it fresh in my mind!
I'm realizing that the "delay is decay" factor perhaps applies best to smaller projects, where the context is pretty much the entire thing itself (e.g. a question is the context, the answer to it is an essay expressing a POV on it.)
When it is part of a bigger thing (e.g. a part of a story, or a theme in a novel), then it ends up being a driving force that lasts longer. It sounds like that story hole you mentioned is a creative context for you—it's a driving question that you keep around, perhaps motivating you and reminding you to keep working on the book. Thanks for sharing your experience, I love the dedication and I know it will be a rewarding feeling when you resolve it!
P.S. I saw that your newsletter was featured recently—huge congrats! 🎉
Great article. When an idea comes to me when I'm trying to sleep I always tell myself that I'll hold onto it, that I'll remember it in the morning, but it has always either gone or it has lost its vibrancy, so this idea that ideas have a short half life resonates with me.
All day yesterday I had two "seeds" floating around my head but no means to capture them. When I did finally get back to my notebook, one was caught, the other just drifted away on the wind. If I didn't know more ideas were around the corner I'd probably find this a bit depressing
Thanks Kevin! Can totally relate to that—a lot of my ideas come right as I’m about to go to sleep! I put a little notebook into my bedroom to help with this, but that is usually useless since we keep it pretty dark to wind down for bed. So, I’ve just accepted that I’m going to have to mosey over to the office and write down an idea. Sometimes this turns into a long writing session, which is good in some ways and bad in others, lol.
I think you hit the nail on the head with this point: “If I didn't know more ideas were around the corner I'd probably find this a bit depressing.” That’s the key, I think! If we live our lives in a way that ideas show up (clearly you do!), then we can trust that they will keep showing up, and one single idea is never that important on its own. This also reduces the pressure on *expressing* any given idea—we don’t have to worry about getting an essay or story “perfect,” because it’s just one idea of many.
The metaphor I often think of is ‘peeling the onion’ of our mind (https://salman.io/blog/peeling-the-onion/). One way or another, peels will peel, but what’s really interesting is what lies beneath. In that sense writing is an exercise in self-revelation.
Love this. I often find delay is decay... up to a certain point. I write as much as I can as soon as I have an idea, but eventually I arrive at a point where I don’t know what comes next, or where there’s a hole in the story. Then I have to step back and chew on it, think about what comes next. I’ve been chewing on one particular hole in a story for almost a year now, but I think about it everyday. I have the timeline for the novel in my office, and a picture on my fridge that represents the story. It keeps it fresh in my mind!
Glad it resonated!
I'm realizing that the "delay is decay" factor perhaps applies best to smaller projects, where the context is pretty much the entire thing itself (e.g. a question is the context, the answer to it is an essay expressing a POV on it.)
When it is part of a bigger thing (e.g. a part of a story, or a theme in a novel), then it ends up being a driving force that lasts longer. It sounds like that story hole you mentioned is a creative context for you—it's a driving question that you keep around, perhaps motivating you and reminding you to keep working on the book. Thanks for sharing your experience, I love the dedication and I know it will be a rewarding feeling when you resolve it!
P.S. I saw that your newsletter was featured recently—huge congrats! 🎉
I think this is a great point. The size of the project definitely matters.
Thank you!
Great article. When an idea comes to me when I'm trying to sleep I always tell myself that I'll hold onto it, that I'll remember it in the morning, but it has always either gone or it has lost its vibrancy, so this idea that ideas have a short half life resonates with me.
All day yesterday I had two "seeds" floating around my head but no means to capture them. When I did finally get back to my notebook, one was caught, the other just drifted away on the wind. If I didn't know more ideas were around the corner I'd probably find this a bit depressing
Thanks Kevin! Can totally relate to that—a lot of my ideas come right as I’m about to go to sleep! I put a little notebook into my bedroom to help with this, but that is usually useless since we keep it pretty dark to wind down for bed. So, I’ve just accepted that I’m going to have to mosey over to the office and write down an idea. Sometimes this turns into a long writing session, which is good in some ways and bad in others, lol.
I think you hit the nail on the head with this point: “If I didn't know more ideas were around the corner I'd probably find this a bit depressing.” That’s the key, I think! If we live our lives in a way that ideas show up (clearly you do!), then we can trust that they will keep showing up, and one single idea is never that important on its own. This also reduces the pressure on *expressing* any given idea—we don’t have to worry about getting an essay or story “perfect,” because it’s just one idea of many.
The metaphor I often think of is ‘peeling the onion’ of our mind (https://salman.io/blog/peeling-the-onion/). One way or another, peels will peel, but what’s really interesting is what lies beneath. In that sense writing is an exercise in self-revelation.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Also, my friend Fahd sent me this Seinfeld skit in reply to the letter. It's very appropriate 😅
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E33Z7-gY_js