Last year I wrote about how learning to code made it significantly harder for me to write creatively. I believe the brain uses the same part for both coding and for writing prose or poetry. This makes it very hard for me to be able to do both. As long as I'm coding and it is scratching the creative itch, it's nearly impossible for me to write something like a short story or a novel.
That said, even in the midst of coding quite frequently from 2023-2024, I managed to pull out a novel I had written in 2018 and revise it. I polished it and wrote multiple drafts. This was incredibly difficult and the idea of trying to write a new novel entirely was daunting. There's a difference between editing/revising and writing something net new. I would equate it to fixing bugs versus building a new project in coding.
As I submitted that novel to literary agents in hopes of representation (I landed and agent in March!) and as the book was eventually sent out "on sub" to publishers, I needed a way to distract myself from the slow-moving world of publishing. I wanted to write a new novel to do that. But I couldn't do it while I was actively writing code and building new side projects.
So, over the last few months I've reluctantly slowed my coding. Instead of building new things, I have focused on writing a first draft of this new novel. It's largely worked. I have written code here and there, and I have slowed down on my new novel here and there, but I'm now at over 100k words and nearly done with the first (read: vomit) draft.
A big part of the reason it has even been possible for me to shift from coding to writing prose again is that my new job is entirely focused on my working in product management instead of a mix of product and engineering. This frees up my brain...or maybe it makes my brain demand a creative release. And I have been able to fill that gap with this novel.
Maybe one day I'll figure out a way to balance both code and prose. But until then, I'll just have to accept the challenge of pausing one to pick up the other.
Tell me what you thought - justin@polluterofminds.com