Confession: I have never churned butter. But lately I’ve felt the constancy of churning words and platforms and social media posts. Truth be told, there are times the toil makes me tired.
It reminds me of an important book I encourage every writer to read, Deep Work, by Cal Newport.
The premise of the book is this: to produce beautiful, stand-the-test-of-time work, we must have space in our days to create. We cannot create deep work with shallow activities wooing us constantly. We need to set boundaries, turn off our phones, find quiet, and give ourselves permission to be quiet.
Some of my favorite quotes from the book:
- “What we choose to focus on and what we choose to ignore plays in defining the quality of our life. . . . Our brains instead construct our worldview based on what we pay attention to.” [Lesson: I need to ignore some things in order to create great things.]
- “All activities, regardless of their importance, consume your same limited store of time and attention. If you service low impact activities, therefore, you’re taking away time you could be spending on higher impact activities. It’s a zero sum game.” [Lesson: time is a commodity that slips away, moment by moment. To create well, I must be mindful of my mindless activity.]
- “The deep life, of course, is not for everybody. It requires hard work and drastic changes to your habits. For many, there’s a comfort in the artificial busyness of rapid email messaging and social media posturing, while the deep life demands that you leave much of that behind…But if you’re willing to sidestep these comforts and fears, and instead struggle to deploy your mind to its fullest capacity to create things that matter, then you’ll discover … that depth generates a life rich with productivity and meaning.” [Lesson: To create great work, great sacrifice must be made.]
It’s so easy to let the churn invade your creative time. And when I do give into the rush of social media while I’m creating, it’s like I’m trying to churn butter from water. Lots of effort, no result. To get to the cream, I must retreat, reset, and rest. Otherwise the raw materials I need to create are anemic or lacking. I cannot create from an empty, distracted heart.
David Brooks writes, “If you want to win the war for attention, don’t try to say no to the trivial distractions you find on the information smorgasbord; try to say yes to the subject that arouses a terrifying longing, and let the terrifying longing crowd out everything else.” I fear I’ve allowed trivial pursuits (no pun intended!) to silence that “terrifying longing,” that part of me that interacts with God on the page. The churn of life and distractions emaciates my imagination and stymies original thought.
How are you with the churn? What is your terrifying longing? How do you create space for deep work? I look forward to your answers.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
The deep life, it is not for me,
I’ll gladly take the shallow end
for it’s far as I want to see,
and not what true depth may portend.
I can skate and wear a smile
real as a new two-dollar bill
if I don’t peruse my file
and see the road to that dark hill
where a fourth cross stands, quite bare
as cancer’s minions grin around;
their laughter doth affright the air
and in the deep life rings the sound
that chokes off my very breath,
song of my doom, my canticle of death.
Mary DeMuth
The pathos in this is quite real. Praying for health.
Julie Garmon
“Terrifying longing” Wow. I love this phrase. Such a deep, rich post.
Thank you,
Julie
Mary DeMuth
You’re very welcome, Julie.
Shelli Littleton
As a little girl, I churned butter with my grandmother. But while I got fidgety and distracted, she stuck with the work to see results.
Mary DeMuth
I love that! Tenacity = butter!
Shelli Littleton
Yes!!
Virginia Sue Graham
As a little girl, one of my chores was to churn butter. I turned the crank as fast as I could and when one hand became tired, I switched to the other hand. Such a great relief to watch the cream thicken and turn into a ball. I’m awaiting my terrifying longing to hear more people say they identified with my characters and life became beautiful for them!
Mary DeMuth
Perhaps the terrifying longing is simply being obedient to telling the stories of your characters!
Virginia Sue Graham
Exactly! It’s in His hands.
Kristen Joy Wilks
Oh, wow! “The churn of life and distractions emaciates my imagination and stymies original thought.”
Yes, this is exactly what happens when I get swept away by the worry of the world, the pressure of promotion, and the craziness of the ” must be done right now” instead of unplugging from everything around me for just a few moments, seeking the deep peace of God, and remembering what it is that I wish to leave behind me when my turn on the merry-go-round is done. Thank you for the reminder!
What do I do?
I take walks, read my Bible, pray, drink coffee in the quiet of the morning, and write early before the crazy wakes up and schedules my day.
Mary DeMuth
Taking walks! Love that.
Carol Wilson
Thank you for this post, Mary. I’ve put this book on my list to purchase.
The deeper way takes longer, but the soul is fed with significantly more fulfillment. And, I imagine our Lord smiles brightly with pleasure when He gives us that fulfillment.
I suspect the books I enjoy reading the most are the ones written by the authors who have patiently chosen the deeper way.
Admittedly, it’s not always easy to enter into this space when those in the creative’s life don’t “get it.” But I think having that mindset eventually teaches and empowers the writer to get into that space in the shorter expanses of time given, too.
Mary DeMuth
You write so beautifully and thoughtfully, Carol. Keep at it.
Carol Wilson
Thank you. People like you inspire me.
Colleen Snyder
This is so hard to find balance. Along side this comment section are advertisements for “Top 12 Must Follow Blogs” and the Top Writing Blogs… all designed to draw our attention to things OTHER than writing. We’re told we need to have a “social media” presence…and finding the “right” one is fraught with confusion. There are a million voices shouting at us saying, “If you want to write, do this!” “Do it THIS way!” “Read this!” “Read that!” The only way to filter the noise is to withdraw…but then we lose our “presence.” It is a zero sum game…with the only guaranteed “right way” is the one (for Christian writers) is the way bathed in prayer of, “What would YOU have me do, Lord?” And then do that.
Mary DeMuth
It reminds me of the scene in Hawthorne’s short story “The Celestial Railroad” when they make a stop in Vanity Fair. So much distraction!