Let’s talk about creativity and neurodivergence.
Months ago I scribbled “orbiting ideas” on an index card. What I meant at the time was the feeling of having an idea, forgetting it, returning to the idea, not having energy of it, leaving it, and finally meeting that idea when the time was right.
I used to fight this.
Or feel extremely guilty about it.
But Iām learning that this rhythm is actually a healthy part of my creative ecosystem.
Rather than living in a perpetual state of creative burn out (Iām looking at you 2018) Iām even more productive since following the gravitational pull of my own orbit.
It can be frustrating gliding right past a shiny idea thatās just out of reach. Or catapulting through sparkling space dust that you know is magic, but you canāt quite make out.
For example, right now Iām curious about the hard science of orbit and how NASA calculates the trajectory of space craft. š
But, Davyās at the end of his nap, Nathan is ready for dinner, and I find myself skimming right past.
That doesnāt mean I have to give up on the idea. I mean, it sounds fascinating (if potentially a little math heavy). Maybe when I reread the Lady Astronaut series Iāll revisit the idea and Hank Green will have made the perfect accessible Sci Show video to explain.
(Ok, while I was looking for an image to put here I found this link. This is why I have 500 tabs open on my phone.)
Trusting that I will come back to the mechanics of orbiting at some point Iām moving on. I think you get the basic idea.
So many of us, especially neurodivergent creators, are shamed for āshiny object syndromeā or āproject hoppingā or ālack of focus.ā
But what Iām experiencing is far from a lack of focus, itās extreme (yet somewhat unwieldy) hyperfocus. And when I let my hyperfocus take the lead I fall into a deeply productive creative flow.
This is how Iāve made more art and drafted three books in three years since my son has been born. The years before were a wash of structured āproductivityā during which I spent a lot of time working, but didn’t engage very deeply in my creative work.
Over the summer Iāve been preparing to give a talk on neurodiversity for my sonās school. When I started researching and the pull toward going deeper and deeper got stronger and stronger like I was being tugged into a black hole.
ā¦ I may have accidentally started writing another book.
And another chapter for my creative ecosystem book.
Iām going to ride this out and when Davy starts school I should have enough control of the spacecraft to land on a cozy asteroid and finish up Discover Your Creative Ecosystem.
For me to control the spacecraft I need a certain amount of quiet time to reset from the overstimulation of motherhood. Otherwise our escape pod is just spinning and I am putting out endless fires.
Iām also having a lot of fun with the space imagery for this project inspired by the term neurodivergent space time which I coined for an art project earlier this year. I was a massive space nerd in first grade and my inner child is living their best life. āØ
What about you? Do you orbit ideas a few times before you can really land on them?
Letās talk about that.
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