Seeking Direction

A couple of weeks ago, I found myself in a position where I needed to get something written.  It wasn't a specific something either.  It was just that I needed to create an article and my brain wasn't having anything to do with it.

When it comes to writing, I have no shortage of ideas.  I actually use various notepads where I scribble down possibilities as they come to me.  There is the little, pocket-sized notebook with the "water-proof" paper that usually travels with me outside.  Then there is the spiral-bound notebook with illustrations of cats on the hard cover.  And, of course, my desk is littered with other odd scraps of paper that were grabbed and pressed into service in a moment where a particularly good idea was in danger of being lost if I didn't manage to get it written down.

Never mind that ideas relegated to a scrap of paper typically get lost anyway.

Anyone involved in creative endeavors of any sort can probably relate to what happens when the time comes to actually produce something.  You look at the scribbled ideas - all of those things that seemed so good in that moment - and you discard them one by one.

• no, not now...
• no, too much work to do a good job on it in the time given
  
• no, not in the mood for that one 
• no, I've already done that
  
• no, this isn't the right time for that
  
• no, the right time for that was last month
• no, I need to do more research before I take that on
• no....  um, what did I mean by that note anyway?

More often than not, the biggest reason is that I am just not feeling the inspiration to write on the tens (and maybe hundreds) of ideas I have captured and placed on the various pieces of paper that are floating around.  It's a hazard of creative work.  If you aren't feeling whatever it is you need to feel to be creative, it can be a troublesome situation to find yourself in - especially if it is your job to create something.

I found myself in that situation a couple of weeks ago.  I actually had three or four topics I had been researching for my PAN work and any of them would have been sufficient for the task.  But, I couldn't make myself follow through.  Each of the topics got a "no" for more than one reason, but I was still trying to make myself choose one and just get it done.

So, I took the camera and went outside in the rain.  And I became enamored with watching the anemometer and weather vane on the weather station.  After that, I observed newly formed puddles and watched droplets form on branches.  I stayed out there until my mind stopped thinking about having to write an article and it started thinking about the rain, the wind, the soil and the dormant perennial plants.  I kept walking around until the cold rain started to make me feel a bit uncomfortable.

Then I walked back in and wrote the article I needed - on none of the topics I had planned on covering - and on all of the topics I planned on covering.