[flat-pluto]

The author says silence but means isolation - ".....isolation without any signals or external validation until it’s complete"

I'd say this is just the first stage of creating something, an MVP of sorts. After that you do need to get some feedback, iterate and improve it step-by-step to get the finished product.

[josem]

Hey!

Author here :)

It was more a metaphor from that moment when I was writing in fact in silence and the lack of any external input / voice telling me whether something I'm doing is good or bad but I know what you mean, perhaps using "isolation" would have made the article clearer, thanks!

[flat-pluto]

I also knew what you meant but it was more for those people who skip the article and comment based solely on the title.

Sidenote - if you can find the time, you should write more often. I just went through your articles and there is a lot of useful advice to be found. The projects are pretty interesting too. Cheers!

[josem]

Thank you, you’ve made my day with this comment!

[mrandish]

I also reacted the same way to your write-up. As a professional creative toward the end of a multi-decade career, I interpreted it as describing the initial moment of inception, which for me, tends to come all in a rush after a long period of uninterrupted solitude. However, after the 'aha' realization my creative process turns to first capturing the now-connected pieces, then forming them into some rough first expression and bouncing that off of early collaborators for feedback. This is usually followed by an intense period of creative engagement with others as the initial idea or concept is sharpened and refined from an often messy pile of "not quite it" into something much more like its eventual self.

What you described is the often invisible first parts of creation which involve exploring the space, then posing the question or framing the problem and finally stewing on it until the seed of the thing is ready to emerge in that moment of solitude. The best collaborators and producers understand the necessity and shape of this process.

[leobg]

Rich Hickey says “the computer is the worst place to work“. I guess he means precisely for the reason you state. The best ideas come when there’s no input from outside.