Sunday, June 18, 2023

Why I Don't Do Creative Work In Public Anymore

Somebody asked the Twitter #WritingCommunity what is one's ideal place to write.

Someone responded they would like to write in a café but instead, prefer dead silence, writing on a couch when everybody else is asleep, and that's practically me!  

I need (total I've belatedly learned doesn't work for me since I'm neurodivergent and I get what are now called 'intrusive thoughts') some silence, white noise, or my countless playlist titles on loop.

I'm also introverted and could never write in a cafe. Too many folks milling around. 

I also draw and can't tell you how many times folks will interrupt while you're working. 

I can people-watch and eavesdrop and later distill into things once I'm home. 

Why I can't, as a creative, do my work out in public is because much of mainstream society doesn’t think creative working is 'work' at all.

That's why in my webcomic, my artist/writer MC prefers the library (like I used to), or she works in the rear of her local bar. Lights low and enough folks talking to create white noise for her. 

Before, she had to field off advances, flirtatious, and pick-up lines, but now she uses them in her own work... And holy cr@p, I think I just came up with another scene I should draft soon! Hahaha 

Representation is a gift

When I began SUMMER TO WINTER, I noticed more than one brown or Black reader and/or friend asked if (Peter) Dunlop is Black.  The relief and...