Arrows and Engines
An arrow’s fastest speed is achieved the moment it leaves the bow. It will never go any faster. There’s nothing to give it more energy and everything in its environment is working to slow it down.
On the other hand, a proton in a particle accelerator reaches its highest speed just before impact. (Kind of like grandma’s vase, when it gets knocked off the table.) Everything in its environment is working to speed it up.
While there are multiple ways to create momentum, there are two main kinds of engines. Burst engines, that give you a momentary kick. And exponential engines, that offer a constant source of energy.
As writers, it’s important to know what’s helping us reach our goals, what’s getting in the way and what we can let go of.
Sometimes we need things despite the friction they create. With the arrow example, air adds friction. But without air, the arrow has no direction and tumbles end over end, never hitting its target.
Beyond just purging things that hurt our creative productivity (I’m looking at you, Facebook) we need to add new engines. We’ve discussed some of this previously. For me, doing anything creative, mind-dumping, playing harmonica, going for a walk or just doing the dishes can give me a burst of momentum.
But all of those are burst engines. What about the heavy stuff? The Exponential engines?
For me, I have a writing group that meets every month. Knowing we’re meeting and I need to submit something can be an exponential engine for me. Deadlines are great exponential engines.
Promising yourself a reward works really well for some people.
Anything you do to hold yourself accountable on a regular basis can serve as an exponential engine. (I write updates to you every week.)
The knowledge you’ll get to (or have to) review what you’ve worked on is a constant. If you have that, you have something to build your momentum.
When done wrong, this can create unnecessary stress. So, find what works for you.
When discussing creative momentum, what kind of object do you see yourself as? Let me know in the comments. (I’m a pair of nunchucks.)
On a personal note:
We finished moving last weekend, which is why I didn’t post.
Also, my son has started feeding his toys. Giving milk and crackers to his dragon of courage is the absolute cutest.
He’s a little behind on talking, so prayers are appreciated. He understands plenty of words and signs but doesn’t use them himself. I’m a bit concerned about the lack of verbal communication. But, he’s developed a lot of new skills (like clapping and high fives) in the past few days. So, overall, things are going very well.
