Many writers I know, especially the prolific ones, will tell you that inspiration is overrated in the writing process. Discipline is what counts, as I often hear in the writing workshops that I've attended, and I am inclined to agree with this.
This is something that I've also heard from one of my math professors. She said that when in the process of proving, say, a theorem, you'd really have to strap yourself to a chair until your proof gets somewhere meaningful. See just how related writing and mathematics are? 😊
***
Aside from my observation that discipline is a requirement in both writing literature and doing mathematical activities, I've found that I am inspired to do one after being significantly immersed in the other.
For example, I've written a lot of poems and stories while being stuck in my linear algebra, operations research, and probability theory classes.
On the other hand, I used to ace exams that I took immediately after practicing the guitar for a significantly long period of time.
Later on, many of the pieces I wrote that got published eventually were those that I wrote while neck-deep in my Master's thesis writing. And words just seem to flow when I decide to write a research article while being stuck in the middle of writing a poem or short story.
Just last night, after having my brain fried for constructing two 40-item multiple choice exams in algebra and precalculus, I was able to write a decent children's story.
So I guess, at least in my case, when one side of our brain gets tired, the other one is in overdrive. We just need the discipline to make sure our motor systems act on these inspired moments.
(Meaning, go get your pen & paper / laptop and just write!)
No comments:
Post a Comment