Back in 287-212 BCE, our boy Archimedes of Syracuse was famously associated with having insights while having a bath.
According to the well-known story, he discovered a method for determining the purity of gold while taking a bath.
He noticed that water displaced when he entered corresponded to his body’s volume, leading to his principle of displacement.
The story goes that he was so excited by this discovery that he ran naked through the streets shouting “Eureka!” (meaning “I have found it!” in Greek)
Now I’m not going to be running through the streets naked anytime soon.
(I don’t want you to have to gauge your eyes out with a rusty spoon, I mean it’s not even February yet…)
But it dawned on me that myself and a few creatives use this “Sitting for ideas” thing to well, come up with new ideas.
And in a nutshell it’s you either soaking in the bath or having a nice long shower.
Or if you’re out for a walk or a nice long hike, the brain does this magical thing where it just starts to come up with solutions for problems you might have.
Or gives you a metric fudge-ton of ideas to play with.
It’s how I came about writing this email today.
I had to venture out into the wild and bare knuckle box my way to the back of the milk isle.
Fighting off old people looking for milk that doesn’t expire for at least 3 weeks.
All before 9 am
All before my first coffee…
Which brings me to my next soap box message which applies to what I’ve just written.
Writer’s block is the biggest scam since someone tried to sell me decaf coffee.
You know that feeling when you sit down to write and your brain suddenly decides to perform its one-act play called “I Have Never Had An Original Thought In My Life And Never Will Again”?
That’s not writer’s block. That’s your brain being a melodramatic teenager who just discovered existentialism.
Writer’s block is like your cat sitting on your keyboard.
It’s not actually stopping you from writing, it’s just being an attention-seeking asshole.
But if you combo together long walks, long soaks or even washing the dishes by hand, your brain will automagically come up with ideas and thoughts and that’s where you can pull from.
Writers block is just procrastination in a trench coat and the quickest way to kick its ass is to do what I suggested above.
Now if you’ll excuse me.
I’m gonna go soak in the bath.
Stephen Walker
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Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom