Re: Creativity

[JIMCHEVAL -at- AOL -dot- COM]

In a message dated 97-08-02 19:44:23 EDT, bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com (Bruce
Byfield) writes:

<< As much
 as I liked teaching, the effort I put into that seemed to tap
 the same sources as writing did, and left me unable to write easily.
 Now, when I switch at the end of the work day, I'm at least in writing
 mode. >>
This is a good example of what I call the 'centrifugal' approach to
organizing one's life.

When I was both a radio announcer and a singer-songwriter, lots of people
thought I had it made, because the two professions were so related.  But in
fact I realized bit by bit that the common points between these two
professions in the music business was creating a mushy ambivalence in my life
attitude.

My move into the business world in general and then into the technical side
of that world was in part prompted by the sense that it was better to
entirely separate the creative and 'practical' sides of one's life - just as
a centrifuge divides a substance into two pure, separate components.

Not everybody would agree I'm sure. But I know that it worked for me and,
apparently, for Bruce.

(I also think of this as crop rotation - work one 'field' of one's psyche,
then let it lie fallow while you work another.  Both become more fertile - in
my experience.)

Jim Chevallier
Los Angeles
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