![[The playbook isn't the field - Paul Klee, Bird Wandering Off, 1926.jpg]] <p class="caption">Paul Klee, <em>Bird Wandering Off</em>, 1926</p> Because we can never see the world as it truly is, we come to understand it through models — representations that allow us to conceive of the arena of our lives and how to navigate it. Playbooks. Yet no matter how detailed or insightful your playbook can be, there always remains a gap between it and the reality it attempts to reflect. I used to believe that real life could be [captured in a model](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_everything). That if you could only see the forest for the trees, you’d be able to traverse it — if I gathered enough ideas, made an outline thorough enough, the draft would write itself. But conceiving of creating is only the first step. And when you’re creating, the only way to cross the forest is to walk through the trees. > The process and production is the thing, not the sitting and theorizing about how one should write ideally. — [Sylvia Plath](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_Home:_Correspondence_1950–1963) Playbooks are invaluable for the sense of direction they provide, but they exist for you to move in reality. The purpose of planning is to act on those plans — which, when writing, should come as soon as possible. It’s not about rashly charging ahead, but rather treating your playbook as a prototype that will [[How to receive notes as a writer|learn from]] engagement with the real thing. With action often comes discomfort, because the perfect idea in your head is reduced into something tangible. You’ve anticipated this forest, but you’re still seeing these trees for the first time — they aren’t as familiar as you’d hoped. This is why the first draft has a reputation for being disappointing. But if you accept that this wilderness will always [[How to give notes to a writer|bring something new]], you can work with it in real time. The grass in the field is taller than you’d thought. And the players move in authentic yet unexpected ways. The landscape is wrung by shifting tectonic plates, the stars clouded by stormy weather — all unforeseen by your playbook. Yet if it emphasizes destination over route, you’ll be able to forge a new [[Completion is a sacred spot|path to completion]]. And the work will always benefit when it responds to the present in this way. > “I,” the character, am living now, suspending all knowledge of what is to come, to leave myself open to surprises, vulnerable to everything done to me, so that my actions will become necessary. — [Uta Hagen](https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Challenge-For-The-Actor/Uta-Hagen/9780684190402) The draft is always different from the outline because there are [[Meaninglessness never lasts when you create|discoveries]] that are only possible on the page. Hurdles that seemed insurmountable can become obvious, and conundrums you could never have anticipated may leave you scrambling to regain your footing. There’s only so much that dwelling ahead of time can do. I’ve come to view my outlines like bowling-alley bumpers — they point the story in a direction but don’t prescribe how each element should fall into place. If you aren’t fully connecting to something in the outline, that might be because it’s an outline. It isn’t [[Realness makes stories great|the real thing]]. Listing the itinerary of your hiking trip is never going to feel as incredible as standing at the top of the mountain. More than trusting that you’ll get there, just try to get there. Movement, itself, creates. --- When writing, you’re [[Never leave the Zone|tuning into an energy]] that exists beyond you — which can make it feel like the finished product is already out there being beamed into your head. But it isn’t. The energy is out there to guide and inspire you, but the _work_ can only exist here with us — to channel one is not to possess the other. To do that, the only way out is through. We think of wisdom as something that comes from distance — from observing the thing from the outside — but there is wisdom [[Use what you have|baked into the thing itself]], so spontaneous and granular that it can’t be perceived from far away. Sometimes inside is the only vantage point from which you can understand what to do. Use a playbook when embarking onto the field, but allow yourself to respond to what you find there. Expect the unexpected, and expect it to [[Stories reveal how people change|change you]] and your work for the better — the most original ideas arise from a pivot. What matters is that you start. Even if the ground ruptures beneath your feet, you’ll be there to leap and roam and chart your course anew. _written listening to [“Flesh” by Jogging House](https://open.spotify.com/track/5fFk95hDPNBF3UQkwSOim3)_