Stress and Creativity

[przed]

So, apparently I'm not good at the whole writing thing when I'm stressed.

Once the already promised Christmas stories were done, I only managed to write one measly 300 word piece whilst I was in the ranks of the unemployed. I was hoping I could do much better than that.

On the other hand, in the one week since I've been back working full time, I'm almost 2,000 words into a brand new piece.

Clearly my writing brain enjoys the security of being employed.

My vidding brain, not so much. I managed to complete two vids while I was off, one of them in less than three weeks from start to finish. This is epic, since the last time I finished a vid was March 2008! (I went back and checked, and was shocked, shocked I tell you, that it was so long ago.) Mind you, I've always known that I could vid when I was a brain-damaged, sleep-deprived zombie. Being stressed about the job situation probably put me into a similar state.

On the job front, things are going well so far. I've done two small projects (a Word template for their admin. assistants, and revisions to documentation for a new application) and both have gone over well. I am having to adjust to their work culture, though. They're really into meetings and talking about doing stuff before actually doing it. I'm more the type to just get stuck into a project. I'm sure I'll get used to the new environment.

Comments

[przed.livejournal.com]

I was deluding myself that I was handling the stress okay, but the creative output does not lie. The vidding thing was an interesting surprise. I got way more vids done while stressed and unemployed than while happily employed. Of course, vidding is a hobby that benefits from long stretches of time, such as you only get whilst unemployed once you have a kidlet. I suspect the vid production is heading for another major drop downwards.