Oh, Sweet Conviction!
“So…do you mind if I quote you on my blog?”
When Shawn asked me that this afternoon, I didn’t know what to think. I mean, I talk a lot. I wanted to know what exactly he was going to be quoting me on.
It turned out he was quoting me about my views on consumerism vs. creation. No, I don’t have some new theology on consumerism being part of evolution, although I’m sure I could conjure something up if hard pressed. I was talking about being an artist.
You see, a few weeks ago, Shawn asked me how my writing was going. It wasn’t and I told him as much.
Why, he wanted to know.
““It’s not going anywhere. When you’re consuming media, you’re not going to produce much,” was my reply.
I went back to my work and Shawn went back to his. My confession nagged me but I didn’t really do much about it. But Shawn did. You can read about it on his new blog.
The conversation caught up to me again when he asked about the quotes. It made me rethink some of the habits I had gotten myself into. I don’t have a television – it takes up too much space and I know myself well enough that I’ll get sucked into it. While I don’t have a television, I do have a laptop. Two actually. And I have Netflix and YouTube bookmarked.
For work, I do a lot with social media. It’s a mental playground but by the end of the day, I’m depleted of all creative juice. My mind feels as if it had been on an extended vacation in the Sahara Desert. I write hundreds, if not thousands, of words every day but it’s been over a year since I worked on the kind of writing that I really love best.
And I hate that.
I don’t hate my job so please don’t get that out of the paragraphs above. I hate being a consumer. I miss the act of creation and the feeling of accomplishment that happens when you type “The End” on a manuscript.
I’ve gotten lazy. I’ve gotten used to the soft and easy. My mind has fallen into the trap of just pushing play instead of dictating worlds into being.
It’s convicting. The reading of my own words. The denial of the creative self to turn into just another consumer. Well, my friends, it’s time to start fighting.
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[…] lovely friend Caitlin Muir talked about the sliding scale of producing vs. consuming […]
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Awesome post Caitlin! I was talking to a friend of mine about this last night. 🙂
Fantastic post! I’d never truly thought of it this way and I whole-heartedly agree. When I’m reading books/magazines/etc., I am writing less and less. I love both equally, but there is something so unique about creating a story of your own and bringing it to life.
On the flip side, I think balance is so key. Professional writers have to be readers – you have to know your market and even read outside your own genre.
Hang in there!
It’s not the consumption of old media that dries me up – it’s more refreshing and stimulating, actually. It’s the constant social media and flash applications.
But don’t worry…there’s a good story brewing! 😀
Great post, Caitlin! It goes right along with what I have discovered lately.