Writing in the Void

How does one pick up a pen and paper to write whatever swims in their heart

when the mundane tasks of the day have taken over the mind? What’s for dinner?

What about that report that’s due? Do I have clean clothes for tomorrow? Am I out of toothpaste? These tasks sit in our minds with a neverending to-do list. Sometimes, it may seem not easy even to sit down to write.

The passion exists, and stories are waiting to be told, but with our minds

distracted, the things in our imagination will never come to fruition. This has been a

struggle for me in the past and is still an issue from which I have been doing my best to

escape. Yet, the concrete presence of social media lingers in the background, calling

my name. It hisses, Just one more video. You are exhausted. You deserve a break from

the mundane, continuous tasks of life.

There are times when my brain is too numb to care, and the technology wins. I

convinced myself that, yes, I did work hard today. One video. Maybe two. Then

suddenly, it’s the end of the day. Those two hours I had to work on anything remotely

creative were gone. On the days when social media does win, the illusion of doing

something productive is usually the culprit. It is easy to believe that watching a video

about painting or investing, writing, or marketing is the same as actually doing the thing

because perhaps the emotional sensation from it is the same. That spark of inspiration

flickers but then vanishes quickly with each scroll. The next few hours are spent trying

to retrieve that spark.

But I have a secret to share with you. Follow me to the depths, yes? *Cue Dark

Synthwave music*

That secret is what I like to call Swimming in the Void. It is a creative process

I’ve tried to strengthen and refine for myself. Whenever I realize that I’m stuck scrolling

and taking away time from my writing, I close my eyes and throw myself into the void.

What is the void? It is nothing to me, but nothing, as it only looks like nothing to

us. This is a place in the mental space where logic bends and dances, where many

ideas that seem to contradict each other can be actual. It does not have a set time or

moment; instead, it is an ocean of everything, moving too fast for us to comprehend.

I discovered this when I was working on a project for school one day. There

were moments when I would find myself sitting at the computer, staring at a screen,

unsure what to say or if the project would be any good. There was a point, however,

after working on this assignment for hours, that I forgot I was working on it at all.

Suddenly, I had written content that worked in my SQL coding, and I understood what

was going on with the code for the first time. That was the trick. Forgetting.

I thought to myself that if social media could put me in a mode where I forgot

about myself and was sucked into scrolling, could I put myself in a mode to forget to

tap into my creative energy too? I decided to give it a go.

This has been years of trial and error, but I must first slow down. My mind has to

be calm to tap into that void. I put on a timer for about ten minutes, close my eyes, and

do absolutely nothing. I sit there, and I wait. Here, thoughts come and go as they

please. Sometimes, they pose as questions, while other times, the thoughts emerge as

distant memories. The important part was that I let it flow. It’s like swimming in the sea,

watching fish pass me by.

In this ocean of the void, one thought presents itself more clearly than the

others. While still in that space, I catch it. Then, I woke up and started writing based on my thoughts. This is important now because I don’t want to lose momentum. I tell

myself, don’t stop writing. It can take a few minutes to a more significant part of an

hour, but eventually, I can tap into the mode of forgetting that I’m writing in the first

place. Outside influences, like social media, do not exist—only the art itself.

This is a concept that helped me when I was stuck. Maybe it’s something that

could help you too.

Two things I learned from this practice:

1.) Social media was not giving me the relaxation or spark of inspiration I needed. It

was draining of both my physical and creative energy.

2.) The spark derived from forgetting oneself in their art is unmatched.

While we move further into technology as a society, finding ways to bring us

back to art is essential.

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Samantha Green is a whimsical storyteller, poet, and metaphysics enthusiast. If you asked her what her favorite aesthetic is, she would say spooky, but make it cute with a dash of magic sprinkles. Her favorite authors are Kafka, Camus, Dostoyevsky, and other writers who sit on the edge of reason. Through surrealist and dreamlike storytelling, her works explore topics like hope, metaphysics, phenomenology, and the relationship between masculine and feminine. You can find some of her work at greenersideofsam.com and GreenerSideofSam on YouTube.