Lessons from Papa Hemingway
American writer and creative master Ernest Hemingway once said he would write in the morning and then go out, so he would have something to write about.
When I worked as a creative director at an agency, we believed that looking out of the window counted as working.
This is because in any creative activity, there’s a time to sow, and a time to reap.
We sow looking out the window, restoring old furniture, like I do, visiting friends, or doing other things that don’t look creative.
These activities let us rest and nurture our imagination.
When the time comes to reap, we’re ready.
Are you nurturing your creativity?
This is true for occupations we don’t usually call “creative,” too.
Many news articles have reported that most workers in the United States engage in unpaid overtime and fail to take all the vacation time to which they are entitled.
They think they are getting ahead, but the truth, as the great Milan Kundera said, is elsewhere.
If you don’t give yourself the rest you need, you eventually run against the law of diminishing returns.
That means you get to the point where you work more and more and accomplish less and less per hour.
And here you thought you were the office hero.
If you want to have the ideas or come up with the solutions, you need to give yourself the rest you need.
Recently I took some time off and visited my dear friend, police thriller author Alberto Meneses, and his wife.
They were wonderful hosts and took me all over the province of Asturias, in the north of Spain.
We crossed lush green fields, admired rocky peaks, and visited historical places.
We also talked shop, and Alberto was generous with his knowledge and experience.
When I left, I was brimming with gratitude and inspiration.
Now, it’s time to work. Those thrillers don’t write themselves, you know.
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