Last Friday I release “TDO-Forum WordPress Theme“, thankfully. It was a piece of code that burst out of me, cut through my on-going writing/roleplaying project and other coding projects, stopped me from blogging, demanding to be finished. It even bit into my work during the day (but so does the lack of sleep from having two small kids). The only time it didn’t swallow was when I was with my family (shows you my true priorities I guess).
Do you ever get that? A piece of writing or coding that demanded to be finished, that consumed you until it was done or you managed to pull away from it?
I’ve read about many writers who claim that a book or story forced itself out of them. Though coding isn’t the same as writing, I think the abstract mental creative-process is the same (the skill-base is obviously different). I think it’s something different to “the flow” (I’ve written about it before and here is the wikipedia entry on the flow psychological state). Certainly the flow is an accelerator or enabler of creative bursts, and coding and writing neatly fit into the model of the flow.
Of course, it doesn’t mean that the piece of writing will be exceptional or the code perfect. Though I do think they benefit from the obsessive neurotic drive of creating it.
Comments (2)
Yup. Been there, done that, and I can testify that it applies to coding, writing, and even sewing (soft sculpture stuff; I’ve heard people say it happens with plain ole sewing-clothes-from-patterns projects, but certainly not for me). And the problem is that the activities are disparate enough that my brain sees no particular conflict with acquiring just such a target-lock on two projects AT THE SAME TIME. That is, until the lock is acquired. *Then* it sees conflict like whoa.
I’ve always thought of it as part of the benefits package that (often) comes with ADHD, but I could be wrong.
Hi Karen!
Ouch. I’ve never experinced that. Always been a one project type of person. I can’t imagine the time conflict you’d have with that. I think by necessity I couldn’t do that… But once the burst is over and I’ve thrown the output to the lions (made it free), I’m left with another project to maintain.