And to prove how engrossing it was, I eventually looked up and it was about an hour after I'd planned to start dinner. That's because when I looked up at the top right corner of the page, there was no time indicator..So I jumped to it, and put the oven on, hot enough for my regular biscuit recipe, a castiron pan in, as it warmed up, then roasted two nice pieces of chicken from the fridge, along with baking the biscuits. Chicken dusted with kosher salt, lemon zest (from the freezer, always good to have some around) and fennel seeds.
Biscuits done in 12 minutes, at 425F, chicken another ten minutes. Tonight's supper on the plate, tomorrow's chicken and supply of hot biscuits in the background. Really good, and I was able to get back to my book without too much delay. Well, aside from dealing with the smoke alarm which has a personal vendetta against any recipe requiring an oven hotter than a nice gentle 350F. And toast. It hates toast.
About the book, though, it's really a plan, which people who follow her podcast Note to Self, know all about, to develop a better use of tech, rather than be leashed to it at all times and feeling unable to complete a task or a thought, even, without checking something, anything. It's well researched, and I think blogistas who use smartphones more than they ever meant to at the outset might like to look at it. I heard her discuss the book on WNYC, and since she mentioned her kids, thought at first she had written a board book..noooooo, much better.
Many of our readers are not in the incessant use category, but it's an interesting read, even if for theoretical purposes! A lot of us were, ahem, mature, before the current wave of technology hit, so we have a lot of experience in reading print material, in actual conversation, in real time social life. That helps avoid being overwhelmed.
As an artist, I'm used to focusing on what I need to, and letting my mind go wherever it needs to in the course of developing new works. In my own experience, the right brain is completely unimpaired by using devices, even my Twitter habit, unlike the analytical left brain, the reading part, which wants everything short and to the point.
I notice, however, and this relates to her point about boredom, that my best art ideas come when I'm tired and have decided to just retire from making art. Just damn well stop. That has lasted at most a couple of weeks, then ideas come at me from all over and I have to use them. And the energy to do it comes back with them. It's emotional as well as mental energy. Art takes a lot of that.
I think Minoush would probably say, aha, you just stopped dwelling, and let things unfold, that's the point! And I think it is. Chance favors the fallow mind, as well as the prepared one.
This follows very closely with what I've been doing this late summer and on into winter: curtains for most of the house, all from scratch or repurposed fabric, now chair cushions for the kitchen chairs; all of it done in sections, and when I come to a stopping place, I move away from it, and start something new.
ReplyDeleteThat means I always have something buzzing in the back of my head and something also progressing, visibly. I've learned a LOT about the creative process along the way (including how to actually control the settings on a pre-1900 treadle machine) and how, while it's different for each of us, across our own personal spectrum it's really the same process with different items, be it baking or sewing or art, or writing.
It's fascinating to watch my own processes, as well as yours. We tackle things very differently, but still with a certain 'what would happen if..." approach.