Comments on: Input vs. Creativity (Or, Thoughts on Surfing the Web)

By: SisterDiane

SisterDiane — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:22:20 +0000

Protopage is interesting - thanks for the link, Katie! I think organizing blog feeds thematically is really helpful - you can take in a particular subject as the mood strikes. And I love your idea of only reading the most recent posts instead of trying to catch up with it all. Sometimes, we just have to move on...

For those who use Google Reader, here's a video I did a while back that shows how to separate your blog feeds into lists by theme, similarly to how Katie does it on Protopage: http://www.craftypod.com/2010/01/22/video-googl...

By: Katie

Katie — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:55:23 +0000

I have definitely noticed periods of input, pause time and output in myself. I'm not sure how comfortable I am comparing my creativity to the way a computer functions, but I think it's a good analogy anyhow. Something that used to confuse me a lot is the fact that I'm interested in so many different areas and I seem to switch between them at short notice. A friend put me on to protopage.com to use as my blog reader. It has tabs and windows that I've used to divide blogs up by theme - crochet, knitting, art, fabric arts, interior decorating, fashion, etc. I just go to the tab that interests me on any given occasion.
I also have a rule that if I haven't read a blog for a while, I will only read the newest 10 posts (or first page). Otherwise I could be there all day - and all night!

By: SisterDiane

SisterDiane — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 06:00:58 +0000

Hi, Ivy9 - WOWEE. 1805 blogs?! My head would explode! :-)

Are you familiar with Julia Cameron? (http://www.theartistsway.com/) She does an exercise in her classes for unblocking artists - where they aren't allowed to read anything for a week. Her concept is that input is an all-too-convenient way of stuffing output down deep so we won't have to deal with it.

What's super interesting to me about that is, her courses were designed in the 1990's - before we were all inundated with online content too!

Anyway. Thanks so much for commenting, and I wish you all the best with that summer project! :-)

By: Ivy9

Ivy9 — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 00:45:39 +0000

Diane, CRAFT is actually the way I found this post. And, get this, I found it while I was on a quest to streamline my RSS feeds into 7 life categories instead of the 44 that I have right now. My goal is to select the 10 blogs I find most relevant and inspiring per category. That gives me 70 blogs to play with when, YIKES! I'm currently subscribed to 1,805!!!

I guess this is my rest of summer project.

But it is really important, I think, to get at the underlying root of this behavior (at least on my part). What is this urge to collect, rather than to actually engage and communicate with others?

A balance of input and creative output does seem the best goal. Setting time limits is a step in the right direction. However, formulating creative output takes waaaay more time than input (unless maybe you are reading books and novels, as I still enjoy doing), so I should budget my time accordingly (less on the input, much more on the output). Why am I so drawn to the input instead of the output though? Probably because there is a lot more thinking and effort required to do the output part, while visually absorbing input is a much more passive endeavour.

Thanks so much for your lovely working through of this topic and selection of exceptional accompanying pictures. They were fun and added to my thinking about your message!

By: SisterDiane

SisterDiane — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:03:35 +0000

Wow, that's awesome! I'm so glad you decided to stop by!

By: SisterDiane

SisterDiane — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:03:11 +0000

It IS really challenging when your work is computer-based too, isn't it? It's like the work stuff and the leisure stuff is all right there at your fingertips at the same time, all day long, and all clamoring for your attention. I go through that too. ACK!

By: SisterDiane

SisterDiane — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:01:08 +0000

I think it's totally okay to set limits like you're doing. After all, our capacity to take it all in is necessarily limited. I think you're curating your attention, and that's a great practice.

By: Swelldesigner

Swelldesigner — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:19:37 +0000

Meant to write you back today on that. Sounds cool. I'll be in touch over e-mail tomorrow.

By: Diane

Diane — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 07:36:24 +0000

YES! The re-surfacing piece……I totally agree….and meant to say something about that. Sometimes things come up over and over and finally, it's like “OK, I GET IT…..I need to look at ________” Actually YOUR NAME has come up lots of times recently, so yesterday when I read Bridget's facebook post I said OK. SisterDiane. Need to take a look at her blog, and here I am! (and hey, I like your name too)

By: Denise

Denise — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 07:34:44 +0000

No where is my ADD nature more evident that when I am on the computer. Which can be pretty much all day. I do Virtual Acadamy with my kids and so I am on the computer doing this or that lesson, marking attendance etc etc and I slip off into looking at some web page, checking my email. Tweeting. My offline time and creativity have gone down exponentially. I really need an input diet.. will be seriously looking at this and probably handing off my lap top to my husband to help!!

By: Momgib2000

Momgib2000 — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 06:20:47 +0000

I only read what really inspires me at the moment (sometimes crafting, sometimes design, sometimes organizing…) I have thousands of unread posts on my reader. And I'm finally OK with that. I'll still add someone new to the list but I tell myself I have to unsubscribe to someone else. Then I feel guilty…

By: SisterDiane

SisterDiane — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 01:49:29 +0000

I so agree, Brandi – sitting down to read a book can be challenging sometimes now. I'd like to think that the attention span is elastic and can be retrained to longer concentration. Good luck in your endeavors!

By: SisterDiane

SisterDiane — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 01:48:11 +0000

There you go… I fall prey to the same thing – looking at making so much I run out of time to make. :-/

By: liveacolorfullife

liveacolorfullife — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:46:13 +0000

This is such a timely post. (Timely, haha). Anyway…I complain constantly to myself that I don't have enough time to quilt. Analyzing that whole thing, it is because I spent WAY too much time reading quilting blogs, checking out pictures on flickr, commenting, etc. And…also becoming somewhat depressed because I seemingly cannot get motivated and “produce” as many quilts as other bloggers. How do they do it? They are also blogging and posting pictures, and I am sure spending much time looking at other bloggers' sites, etc. Do they not sleep? It makes me exhausted. So…I think I need to weed out my blogroll, spend less time reading about creative things and more time doing creative things.

By: Brandi

Brandi — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 23:57:25 +0000

I made a comment on Twitter recently that social media has damaged my attention span. I wrote something like, "if you can't get it out in 300 words or less, you've lost me".

After reading your post I realize that statement is both sad AND true. I've been thinking about it since reading this yesterday. I decided to analyze not so much the amount of time I spend online (because I've already cut back a LOT), but the quality of where I spend it. In a handful of minutes, I visited something like 20 or 30 sites. I literally jumped from one page to another, never reading anything for too long.

Part of it was because I only gave myself a few minutes online before going back to work, so I felt this pressure to check everything in those few minutes. The other part was, even if I had unlimited time, I probably still would be surfing this way - my attention span really does seem altered!

So, my goal now is to not just cut back on time, but cut off the unimportant things, too. Big challenge. I feel kind of intimidated.