After reading Andrea Barrett's The Sea of Information, something clicked; maybe instead of putting things off, I could just be thinking about them constantly. That might not make much sense, but the way she came up with ideas for her novel didn't come instantaneously, they were things she had on the back burners of her mind at all times. Ideas don't just come out of an hour of brainstorming, it takes time and living and learning and always keeping thoughts on the back burner so you can expand on your ideas.
To be a better all around thinker, one must use juxtification in order to see connections between things that aren't obviously related. For example Barrett's connection between tuberculosis and a world war. On the surface these seem like two separate categories of thinking, but after researching more aspects of each topic, they can be compared and the comparisons made can offer new perspectives.
The best way I can think to describe this is to not think on a schedule. For example from 8:00 to 8:50 I'm supposed to be learning french, and just french, for the duration of that class. From 8:55-9:45 I'm supposed to be learning solely about sociology. But when I close my mind off like that, it doesn't allow me to make connections between the two separate subjects, and I could be missing important connections.
Going back to the theme of starting being the hardest part, Barrett has taught me to think without starting and stopping points, and to be able to think and relate things all the time.
Vanessa-
ReplyDeleteI loved this whole blog, I can relate to it because I’m a big procrastinator! Your opener was so descriptive it made me want to keep reading to learn more about everything in your entry, and I loved the different emotions you created through all your descriptions. Staring at a blank word document is the worst! Just thinking about something like that can give you a headache. I also really liked the way you used The Sea of Information to help you think about ways to keep your mind active, it was a really creative way of looking at the story. I’m pretty sure procrastination wouldn’t be as hard if you were constantly thinking about it. It may even force you to start an assignment early if a lot of good ideas build up in your mind. Finally, I really liked the way you talked about yourself progressing after reading The Sea of Information, by thinking about your classes in different ways, instead of thinking about them period by period.