Distraction, Creativity, and an Over-flowing Soul

"Writer's remorse beats writer's delay" or something like that. Annie Dillard's splendid writing advice speaks of something like an on-ramp for writing. "You often must throw away your openings" she says -- "they are only there to help you get going."

True enough I'm sure but I wonder what sorts of corollary routines make writing possible, delay it long enough so when one finally gets to the task something comes that is worth it. 

I have a friend who uses distraction as a routine of sorts to great benefit. He has made common habit of having three screens active: baseball highlights, ongoing conversations with a friend or some other intermittent reading, and working through class material or actual online teaching. And he gets more done than most people.

It's interesting to see where this distraction leads me. I use distraction of some sort to try to engender creativity. For me it is often reading at random, something I have done all my life. This seems generic, suggesting to me there should instead be purpose in the distraction itself. That is, if I am wanting to write a reflection on, say, baseball, I should do the 'random' reading on baseball. Maybe. But somehow we have to trick our minds into getting the thing done, and often the route is circuitous and inexplicable. Or so seems to me.

This brings procrastination to mind, such a difficult habit of human nature. There are analyses that help. For me it often happens because I lack the discipline or wisdom to use time in a measured way. That is, since I have never done well with limiting the scope of preparation or the job itself, I wait until an inner clock tells me I have just enough time to do a passable job. And then I do it.

I marvel at those who work otherwise, setting an afternoon for an essay or speech prep and plodding through until it is passable, even excellent. The thing may not be due for a week or a month, but it is done. Who does that?! One must trick the mind somehow and I would not argue with those who say it is simply a matter of discipline.

Except...art never is. It is more, but I have reached my depth. I would only add that there seems no substitute for well-ordered and determined work: staying with tasks and doing all one can to cultivate an inner life that feeds well all that rises from it. To the extent various creativity hacks fill the soul so something worthwhile spills out, we are on the right track. Or so seems true to me.