The Hidden Joys of Doing Nothing- The life of a creative writer
There’s something unique about creative writers. They’re often reserved. I don't know who else have noticed this. They distant themselves even- not because they lack interest in others, but because they are always observing. They live half in the present moment and half in an inner world, gathering details, emotions, and sentences to shape into something later.
Many creative writers are naturally inclined to retreat into stillness and solitude. In that stillness, ideas come, slowly and softly, and a feeling we didn’t know we needed to explore is seen. It’s not about avoiding people; it’s about making space to notice. To listen. To feel things deeply enough that they can be shaped into words.
A creative writer doesn’t always rush to speak. They linger in silence. They sit in the background, not because they are shy but so they can truly see. The tilt of a head, the weight behind a sigh, a child’s fidgeting hands, the old man’s slow blink, the silence between raindrops. These are the things we catch when we’re still and they become potential materials to create something from.
To others, it might look like we’re doing nothing. But that “nothing” is where everything begins and there is joy in it. The quiet joy of not having to perform, not having to explain, watching people without them noticing, hearing conversations drift by, feeling the mood of a place without needing to speak. You know, this joy that comes from grabbing details.
In essence, we don’t need to fill every moment with noise or movement. We need stillness and this stillness isn't idleness; it's the soil where stories grow. Sometimes, the richest stories are found in the pause. And maybe, for a writer, “doing nothing” is actually the deepest kind of doing: absorbing, reflecting, and creating.
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