My Most Unnecessary List
Photo credit @Erin Deborah Waks
By Erin Deborah Waks
I have a list of articles I want to, or could, write saved on my phone. It’s my way of reminding myself of all the moments in my day that have been inspiring, and have provoked thought. It’s also possibly one of the most useless lists in the world.
The thing is, if I don’t grab the need to write when it takes me, I’ve usually lost the golden thread of the idea by the time I can sit down to get it out. My best writing is rarely what I produce after planning, thought, and rumination, but rather the emotional ramblings I type out rapidly on my phone on the train, or scribble out on the side of an old piece of paper in a coffee shop.
When I first moved to Morocco, it did occur to me that there was a small possibility such a drastic change in scenery would stunt my creativity. So I brainstormed a list of topics I knew I’d like to write about someday, so if I felt stilted here, I’d have a starting point.
Unsurprisingly, though, moving to North Africa and a new country and culture rich in language, art, history, religion, and so much more, has meant I stop myself at least twice a day to jot things down. I save sentences or paragraphs on things I see, hear, and feel. So I’m yet to touch my well-cultivated list of ideas because I’m constantly bombarded with new, better ones.
Like most things in my life, planning and calculating is a necessary means of gaining control over my world, but rarely leads to the production of anything which falls under the category of ‘art’. Naturally then, despite the ultimate banality of my list, it must remain a constant.
Why? Because having a list of potential article ideas means I’m never faced with the possibility of having nothing to write about. Writer’s block is real, and I won’t pretend it’s a foreign concept to me, but having a constantly growing list of ideas which are almost good enough to write removes the anxiety that, for once, I may sit in front of my laptop and be lost for words.
And that is what frees up space in my mind to be truly creative.
