Time Off vs Creative Relaxing
Also: Creating Differently, Thinking in TV when Writing, and 2024 LLM Retro
Sometimes, weekends are great, because it feels like I’m getting stress-free time to work on my projects. To create, to me (more often than not), gives me energy. If you’re like me, you’ve thus likely found yourself in this exact following scenario:
You sit with a tension of *actually* taking time off, to not work on something versus finding joy in having some unguided or admin-free time to create. There’s been holidays where I’ve gotten anxious at not getting to some new writing, some new code, or new idea. Too many margaritas, good food, good company, and good sunshine. 😅
But, it has made me wonder to what extent it’s actually ‘healthy’. To turn off that compulsion and instead focus on being present. I believe I’ve definitely gotten better at doing that and have been finding better balance as I’ve gotten older, but it still remains an interesting tension I want to explore.
On the one hand, if you truly enjoy being creative, and enjoy having time during the holidays to work on something uninterrupted by the rest of modern life, then is it so bad?
But, is there something more to the fact that it’s sometimes hard to turn that off? To me, it’s a big theme I want to tackle for 2025 as I’m also planning to do some extensive grass touching and not knowing whether I should exercise my creative muscle during those periods or not. For example, I know I don’t want to go on a walking trip without having (mostly) finished my novel. It would take up cycles I’d rather want to spend on contemplation.
Put the question differently: is there truly a tension between wanting to be (to be present in the moment, to not always want to trade a moment into a productive outcome) and a desire to create (the joy of taking life and collecting its experiences into creative outcomes).
In the extreme cases, we know those social media influencers that ruin their moments so profusely because their audience is always present with them. But we also know beautiful minds that the world will never come to know: forever wandering without an understanding of the gifts they have or them being stuck with an irrational fear of finishing and sharing their work.
Do you resonate with this tension? Either way, hoping to do more of both this year: to create and to also turn off. Looking forward to 2025.
Bonus Content!
Hi 2025. Hi everyone! I’ve been enjoying the South African sunshine for a few weeks now and it’s made a world of difference to my mood. I’ve mostly been focused on just spending time in nature, with family and friends, and being present.
📚 Reading - Dave Eggers - The Circle
I finally finished it a few weeks ago. Enjoyed the premise and where it went, but ultimately felt a bit flat at the end for me personally.
📺 Watching - Skeleton Crew, Perfect Days (2nd time), Bourne Identity
Seriously enjoying Skeleton Crew. Fun, tight writing, and adventurous. Also watched Perfect Days again, one of my favourite watches of 2024. Enjoyed it again. The final scene is so beautiful. And then, I’ve never watched any of the Bourne films and being a fan of Tony Gilroy via Star Wars, I thought I’d finally check it out. The first one is fun, engrossing, and a good time. :)
🕹️ Gaming - Star Wars: Unlimited
On a whim, I bought some starter packs of the Star Wars TCG game and played it with friends. Although I haven’t played TCG actively since I was a teenager, I don’t mind dabbling in it. I enjoyed the mechanics and spin on familiar TCG mechanics (eg, trading actions and not having a separate resource mechanic).
📚 Writing - Novel #2
Struggled a bit with rewriting a part of the novel, but eventually managed to fix it. The most challenging and interesting parts of drafting is changing earlier parts of the novel to ensure it all fits together better without having to rewrite the rest of it. It’s like figuring out a way to change the foundations of a building without having to rebuild it. Once that’s done, it can rise to new heights. I’m seriously hoping to finish draft 2 soon, and then hopefully, draft 3 won’t take that much longer (as it’s mostly pre-pitching prose polish). It should then be in a position around middle of the year (I really hope) to pass it around to friends and potential agents.
💾 Links!
Thinking in TV when Writing
I enjoyed
’s recent take on how text can come to be written like TV. Authors treat prose as a camera, showing the scene to the reader and having the scene play out in their head.My theory is that we live in the age of visual narratives and that increasingly warps how we write. Film, TV, TikToks, and video games are culturally dominant. Most of us learn how stories work through visual mediums. This is how our brains have been taught to think about story. And so, this is how we write. I’m not suggesting there is any problem in being influenced by these artforms. I certainly am. The problem is that if you’re “thinking in TV” while writing prose, you abandon the advantages of prose without getting the advantages of TV. Visual media and text simply work differently and have different possibilities and constraints. I don’t believe in rules for art. But I believe in general principles. One is that it’s typically best to lean into the unique advantages of the medium you are working in. A novel will never beat good TV at being TV, but similarly TV will never beat a good novel at being a novel.
I bet for most fiction writers they’ve encountered this tension. He gives good advice on how to avoid it, taking advantage of prose as a medium for fiction.
Creating Differently
I’ve been following Metalabel and
’s recent work from the sidelines. Mostly because I’m currently uncertain on *how* to release works in the year 2025. His own tension of moving back to NYC after experiencing a “West Coast Vibe” resonates.I moved back to New York City in 2022 after several years away. Los Angeles and Vancouver gave me the gift of space — to think, to write, to develop ideas about creativity and collaboration away from the noise. I returned to New York determined to preserve what I called my "West Coast vibe” and resist the city's gravitational pull toward constant motion.
I’m contemplating a move back to NYC from a quieter DC (where I lived next to nature) and anxious about this “pull toward constant motion”. So, I’m glad to see how he changed his perspective. I also deeply miss working collaboratively. While I enjoy the long, introspective pursuit of writing a novel, I miss the necessity of having to work with others when you build technology. So, I do have a desire to rekindle or rethink how I can work with others again and rethink how I release my work in 2025. It’s going to be a year of experimentation and change. :)
After everything I've experienced this year, I'm more convinced than ever that this path isn't just possible — it's essential. The old ways of creating and releasing work are breaking down. The new ways are still emerging. In that gap lies immense possibility. Here's to exploring it together in 2025 and beyond.
LLMs in 2024
It’s hard to keep up with developments in AI and LLMs. Simon Willison has a great 2024 retro if you’re interested! ht Anil
Mini Discs
I have nostalgia for mini discs even though they never really did make it to South Africa. Adore the design.
🎶 Music
Hayes Bradley - Lemon Girl (Love Loop Beck Remix)
A beautiful track. Beck’s remix soars!
I’m excited for 2025. For the first time in a long time I don’t actually don’t know where life will take me. Scary and exciting. :)
Hope you already caught a great sunset!
See you next week,
Simon