This happens when I get cozy with my Muse and start thinking about stories non-stop. The other half of my brain, that left-side logical, structured part, jumps up and demands attention.
I’m not sure if my left brain is just jealous of my right brain, and that I spend so much time in my right brain working on characters and stories, and coming up with things that I can inflict upon my characters in my stories. Possibly my left brain just feels left out and neglected. Or maybe it is trying to sabotage any forward momentum I’m building up while I try to get more stories done and out there. Or it could be a procrastination technique by my right brain. I’m sure there is fear at work in there – fear that I put stories out there and they meet with total silence. Fear that no one will ever buy them, or read them, or enjoy them. Fear that I would have wasted all the time I have in this world in a vain pursuit.
Anyway, the left brain is being more dominant and has switched from thinking about stories to thinking about tech and programming. It wants to make things, so it is trying to be creative in its own way. This might be where the need to build the dice tower (which is progressing along nicely) came from. I’m enjoying the process and look forward to the completed project. But that makes me think about making more dice towers, which leads me to thinking about 3D printing one (or more). That leads me to computer aided drafting (CAD) to model new 3D printed dice towers. CAD leads me to thinking about ways to make it more efficient, which leads me to thinking about programming. That leads me to wanting to get back to reprogramming my catalog program to keep track of all my books and other media. (I did it a long time ago in ColdFusion but I’m moving over to PHP instead). That leads me to wanting to program several websites (some of which have the potential for income streams). And just the other day, someone approached me about a really interesting mobile app they’d like built. This really excites my left brain because I’ve never made a mobile app and now my left brain wants to learn all the programming for making one (well, two – one for the Android platform and one for the iPhone).
It’s the same kind of whirlwind and buzz my Muse (and right brain) get when I have a new story idea, and she starts running a mile a minute creating characters, and backstories, and mean things that I could do to my characters.
It seems that both sides of my brain want to create things. They both have different objectives and processes for getting from start to finish. But they are mutually exclusive. All the tech stuff pushes the stories out, all the stories push the tech stuff out. It’d be nice if I could combine them both and be productive in both arenas. As it is, I have to devote some time to one side of the brain, then time to the other side.
It is times like this when I want a handful of NZT, the drug in the book and movie, Limitless. It takes (the myth of) your brain working at 10 percent efficiency and cranks it up to work at 100 percent efficiency, letting your brain solve problems at a level where your productivity shoots through the roof. Of course, it has serious detrimental side effects on your health, but I’d hope I’d do like the character in the story and find a way around them. With NZT I’d be able to let both sides of my brain play and be productive.
In the meantime, I’ll just have to try to be more balanced and keep one side of my brain from dominating the other side.
What about you, my Hordeling? Do the two sides of your brain get into struggles like this? Leave a comment and let me know.
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