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Left-Brain Gumbo
Tom McCranie
Occasional musings of how a left-brain thinker expands his right-brain abilities
Mathematicians use symbols to replace words, e.g., let x = -2 can be stated as, suppose we assign a heretofore undefined entity, we’ll call it “x,” the value of two units below zero. For those of that mind set, it is easier and quicker; for many others it doesn’t make sense either way it is stated. We engineers had to spend hours practicing, learning, pounding mathematical concepts into our heads before going on to more esoteric things—entropy, enthalpy, and such.
I like to think the practices have made it easier for me to sit at a desk and spend time looking at a blank page trying to write, trying and trying, racking my brain, battling the voice in my head reminding me of other things to do. The practices certainly helped me deal with the frustration of nothing coming out right.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s interesting to think that struggling with mathematical equations is good preparation for the challenges of the writing process.
Like stretching one muscle to get better performance out of another. The human brain is astonishing.
I’m very glad that math isn’t a part of my writing process. I can hardly keep track of the math in the checkbook!
I can see how math and writing are related. I was always good at math and English, which was a bit confusing when it came time to decide “what to do with my life.” Now, I think math skills play well into formulating outlines and thinking through character arcs. There is a certain logic to writing, though it’s difficult to explain fully.
I think creativity ‘feels’ quite the same across disciplines, whether the sciences or the arts – and more…the idea, the hope, the empty space, the exquisite joy of ‘hitting’ something that works. I think Einstein called it “groping”…