Thursday! 2-36: Think Slow. Create for Real.
Thanks. Thanks for doing this.
Keep it real. Think slow. We should get through it just fine.— Randall “Memphis” Raines, “Gone in 60 Seconds”
I’ll wait for a few of you to take a short musical break…
…okay. Let’s ride!
The modern world is built on one precept: Only the fast and useful survive. If you are not both of those things all the time, you’ll fall behind, surpassed by those who hustle harder, who move more quickly and break things in a heedless rush to progress, who forego sleep and simple comforts in order to produce more and better, who do not have time to think and consider, who must get there first because there is no award for second place.
That is the modern entrepreneur “build”. That is “hustle culture”. That is the endless scroll of short social media posts and 30 second videos that give you one hot take or one quick thing you just won’t believe until you see it, or five rapid-fire steps to Eternal Bliss. That is this food service for people who can’t spare any more than 20 minutes for a nutritious meal, not even an extra five minutes to wipe down their pristine countertops.
I am not against convenience, by the way. Few things annoy me more than sitting in line for 20 minutes in the drive-through line at a fast-food restaurant1. I like how text messages and Instagram have brought close to my heart people who live far away from me. I love being able to get my necessary prescriptions in an hour instead of days. Convenience and speed are wonderful but they are an enhancement to my life, not a core component of it.
[Be fancy and artsy! Be one of my very special patrons! $2, $5, or $20 a month. Woot!]
Lately, I find myself yelling at the world to slow down. Is that because I’m getting older and yelling at the world is a thing old people do? Is that because the minutes feel clipped at the ends so they pass by more quickly than they used to?2 Is it because I’m just grumpier lately? Honestly, any of those things could be true, or all of them, so take what I say here with the appropriate crystals of seasoning. What I don’t think we ought to ignore is how the modern world’s demand for speed and results nudges us, sometimes subtly and sometimes like an angry bear leaning on a rotten tree, toward rushing our art or ignoring it altogether.
I’ve seen it in my own work. My poems have grown shorter and I get cranky if I can’t bring one from concept to completion in a couple of hours. It’s possible I conditioned myself to work that way by writing years of flash fiction stories, but that conditioning doesn’t explain why I’ve had solid ideas for longer works only to tuck them away for some other time. Speed, right? Hurry, right? Neither of those things accommodate a villanelle or sonnet — poetic forms that require planning and construction. Neither accommodate a story with more than one strong plot point that might run into he thousands of words.
Maybe you’ve run into the same issues in your own endeavors. Maybe (and I do use that word a lot, don’t I? It is hard to be dogmatic when you’re re-thinking how you go about your business, or at least it ought to be) you’ve sped up without even knowing it. Maybe you’ve crammed a whole bunch of “should” and “must” jobs into your day, not because they are truly necessary but because you think if you don’t you’ll fall behind. You’re trying to keep up with the State of the Art or the Current Trend of the Cutting Edge and it’s killing your art, or at least making you doubt your ability to make anything great.
Let me tell you something: the world, and all the Grabby McSelfishCriticsons in it, does not care about your art nor about you. It lies to you regularly because if you act according to its lies, it’ll get something it needs from you — your money, valuable minutes of your life, your anger, or your allegiance. You don’t have to move at its pace. You can ease down and, well, be like Memphis and his crew3. What do you say? You know what I say.
Think slow. Create for real.
We’ll get through this just fine.
Now…Donny?
As you might have gathered, I did no “public” writing this week, so there’s no “What I Wrote this Week” section. There is, however, a vast storehouse of stories and poems sitting at JimmieWrites just waiting for you to dive in. Please, help yourself! Find a favorite!
People who drive in the passing lane but who aren’t passing anyone, anywhere, ever. Also, people in a busy thrift store who bring a full shopping cart to the counter then continue to shop through the cart while being rung up as a line continues to form behind them.
The perception that time passes more quickly the older you get is real, by the way.
Without committing a whole container ship full of felonies, please.