Ah, the insidious blog.
This entry was posted on 4/20/2007 9:00 AM and is filed under uncategorized.
Virtually everyone has a virtual diary, an on-line blow-by-blow, an itemized accounting of all the things you ever wanted to know (and quite a few that you didn’t).
And my blog won’t take the place of any of them.
What it will do is offer some behind-the-scenes info, some tell-it-like-it-is (or sometimes, just like-it-ought-to-be), and maybe a little tongue-in-cheek commentary on the creative life. If you’re in the mood for such a thing.
Priming the Pump.
Inspiration. Being so driven to work that you are
compelled to ignore the email, the checkbook to be reconciled, the
floors that really should be vacuumed, or the weekly call to your
mother. When inspired, you are the creative dynamo—you are
she-who-will-not-be-deterred.
But inspiration is elusive. It’s
the I-had-it-just-a minute-ago thing that drives authors to drink and
artists to retreat into reclusive artist colonies. Stuck on the bus or
at the tail end of the check-out line, trapped behind fourteen miles of
crawling rush-hour traffic, and your head is buzzing with ideas. But
sit yourself down in front of the computer or behind the drawing board,
or stand in front of bins and bins of gorgeous yarn and, suddenly, you
haven’t got two ideas to rub together. And that, my friend, is the
reason “Where do you get your ideas?” is the number one question
fielded by best-selling authors.
Now, maybe if you aren’t a
writer on deadline or an artist with a commission, a dry socket isn’t
the end of the world. But if lack of inspiration is the thing standing
between you and your next project, then I’m betting that by now I have
your full attention.
So here’s the thing about inspiration:
having it is way overrated. And not having it? Well, that’s just
another name for fear, indecision, or self-doubt. We are no more or
less creative in nature on Wednesday than on the previous Tuesday. But
“being inspired” gives us permission to take a risk, think along new
lines—to bend, break or stretch the inviolate paradigm.
If
you’re holding up the party waiting for your muse, then let me remind
you that while inspiration may be the guest that really gets the party
started, it never wants to be the first to arrive. So send out the
invitations, put on the music, light the candles, and don your party
duds. Get in the party mood, and the party will happen.
Get busy, and the inspiration will come.
