Staying Creative
Well, my night got totally derailed. I’m sure this has happened to you, too: you’re here, aren’t you?
Anyway, I was sitting there, enjoying a cathode-ray-induced state of vegetation, when I thought I’d check my email. While still in my TV haze sitting at the computer I started poking through my RSS reader, looking through the things I haven’t been reading in the past few busy weeks. And a very common source for good links provided yet another.
I have been to Gaping Void before, but that was a long time ago, when the site was mostly just a gallery of Hugh Macleod’s business card comics. I loved the site when I first found it, and if one could wear out a browser bookmark, I done did that many times over. Actually, maybe I did wear it out, and that is why I lost track of the site until now. But now is the age of weblogs, and Gaping Void is running on one of those weblog engines, and I have quickly added the site to my RSS reader.
Oh, yeah– getting derailed: I have read inspirational weblog posts on many sites, and they are always envigorating, and they make me want to grab my sketchbook and write down and doodle all the ideas that come flooding in. Hugh’s list was absolutely no exception. My TV haze quickly cleared and I found myself listening to, and then singing out loud with, Gillian Welch, Ben Harper, R.E.M., and the Beastie Boys via iTunes on party shuffle, doodling on the scraps on my drafting table, and jotting down story ideas on my online scratchpad.
It was a great sensation, but then I started to feel guilty. I have wasted most of this evening in front of the boob tube, using little-to-no brain cells and getting a crick in my neck. Then I remembered what I did yesterday, and I started to think about the many projects I have completed over the past few weeks:
- Created three new t-shirt designs
- Finished a painting for my college roommate’s wedding gift (okay the wedding was last year, but I am still under the allowed 12 months– and I’m mailing it this week, I swear!)
- Installed a new window in my bathroom
- Created another poster for Broom Street Theater through work
- Hosted my brothers for our 8th annual Huycking trip
- Finished a spec piece for Art-o-Mat (which I will mail out this week as well)
And this is all since the middle of July. I think that’s a lot for about two-and-a-half weeks; I deserve to veg out for a couple hours. But on a grander scale, according to Hugh Macleod’s list, point #3, I need to stay at it. He’s absolutely right, and while I can confidently say that Anne LaMott’s book, Bird by Bird, was the first thing to give me the nudge, I’m sure Hugh’s list won’t be the last one to give me a reminder.
I think I secretly like to forget, though, just so I can be reminded like this. Great list, Hugh– thank you for sharing it.
