#creative drought

[thedeluluverse]

Jiminssi Stans Assemble!

I need ideas for Jimin fics/drabbles/anything XD Have plenty for the other 2 but only 1 currently in my WIP for poor Mochi. Idk why I have so much trouble lol. Feel free to comment your ideas below or send in an ask anytime!! Thanks in advance!

[noir-savette]

A video for any artists going through a creative drought during these hard times.

[tumdownfarm]

And this, folks, is why Hollywood has been in such a creative slump, among other things going on.

Nail, Head, Hit.

[elysynn]

The end of last year I built up some great momentum with writing. I wrote and posted a completed multi-chapter fic that was in the ballpark of 25k words, got a couple chapters of my original work done and made some progress on my long-neglected WIP. I got outlines written for 2 new fics and a plot synopsis written for a third. I've been really excited about getting them all underway.

It's been six weeks now since I last opened any of my docs. I'm still thinking about scenes and plotlines but I just haven't been able to face a doc. The first couple weeks, I thought I'd just burned myself out with all the progress I'd made in the last couple months of the year. But, as the weeks have rolled on I recognized that it's because I just don't have the creative juices to spare right now due to the job that pays the bills.

One of the things I love about my job is I get to spend a lot of time in my own head analyzing, troubleshooting and problem-solving. The area of IT I work in is really dynamic and is well suited to my attention challenges. But the last couple months have been r e l e n t l e s s. We've had things come up that have required more pivoting and maneuvering and creative solutioning than has ever been needed before in such a short span of time. On one hand, I love it. It's invigorating to be presented with a high-stakes problem and turn it around successfully in record time. But on the other hand, it means all my creative capital is being spent on things that are exciting, intriguing, challenging - but not necessarily fun.

It will pass, I know that. It's not the first time work has thrown my creative life a curveball. My aforementioned WIP is a testament to that. It's different this go around because I know what's sucking all my creativity away and while I don't necessarily resent it, I do lament it.

All that being said, I haven't been completely bereft of creative expression outside of work. The Reversi skin just wasn't cutting it for me anymore on AO3 in terms of a dark theme. So, I decided to experiment with making my own skin inspired by Tumblr's Goth Rave theme. I'm still tinkering with it - I've never worked with CSS before - but I've been enormously pleased with what I've got so far. And my eyes are happier reading at night. It's been a nice bridge between my work and hobby worlds that my brain could carve some space for.

And now that I've rambled on not entirely certain of the point I felt compelled to make, I need to go finish making a pretty picture of servers and the like living in harmony.

[thephoblographer]

On Creativity: Refilling Creative Juices for Photographers

Running low on creative juices? These are just some of the ways you can fill them up.

Creativity is a finite resource that needs to be replenished — hence the term creative juices feels accurate, even for photography.

Creativity is a big part of our craft as photographers. It’s what fuels our best ideas, defines our personal style, and sets our work apart from random snaps and throwaway photos. It’s so crucial for both professional and personal work that we find ourselves…

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[captkevman]

More than this

It’s been a long dry spell  – as evidenced by the very sporadic updates on this blog. I thought it was time to change it up a bit, so you may notice (if you’re looking at the captkevman.tumblr.com site) that I’ve changed the theme. I’ve also changed the name and description, but those are pretty fluid at the moment, and currently only reflect the frustration I’m feeling with myself of late.

I tend to get overly whiny when I feel compelled to post something here. I wish this post was an exception to that rule, but alas, it is not.

Some of you may know that I sort of started & “organized” (to use the term loosely) a local comic & cartoonist creators’ community about 8 years ago. I was very involved with it for quite some time. In addition to scheduling the regular twice-monthly meetings, I also arranged for the group’s participation in local events like conventions and special drawing events (like mini-comics day and 24 Hour Comics Day). Some of you may also know that I started and helped organize an annual community drawing festival that ran for about 4 years (with mixed success).

Both of those projects brought me certain levels of personal fulfillment, but almost two years ago, I abandoned them both – I didn’t feel that my involvement with either was fair to them. The creators’ group deserved someone who walked the walk, and I was not actively creating (except occasionally during the meetings). I abandoned the drawing festival for a similar reason: I did not have the skills to properly plan the event so it would be an enriching experience for the community – it deserved better than what I had been bringing to it. Neither project was helped by the fact that I also had some personal matters that required my attention at the time.

So, I walked away – I hoped, temporarily. I stopped creating (nearly completely). Additionally, my business (which consisted of just me, as a self-employed tech consultant) faltered due in no small part to my ADHD challenges, and I found myself just sort of adrift, professionally, emotionally, and creatively. I ended up back at my Dad’s sign shop, trying to revive a business that he gave up on long ago. I just don’t feel any passion for it – or for anything else, for that matter. It hasn't been until recently that I’ve realized just how much of myself I gave up in order to “get things right” with myself.

I’m just now realizing that somehow over the past couple of years, I’ve lost myself.

About a month and a half ago, I went out to a local venue’s open-house night to see if I could reconnect with some sort of creative energy, but it had been so long since I had allowed myself to go out socially and/or creatively (outside the confines of family), I quickly found my way back out the door and into the relative familiarity and isolation of my car.

Just yesterday, I went out to a local convention to see if I could reconnect with some fellow creators there, but the few familiar faces I saw there looked right past me, and I was too self-conscious to initiate a reconnection. I did a once-around, and again, I retreated.

So I guess this is another attempt at trying to re-ignite whatever creative efforts are smoldering under the wreckage of my self-loathing. I want to create again, but I just can’t bring myself to do it, for whatever reason: be it my fear of failure, my guilt and shame for not trying harder sooner, my embarrassment for getting to be this age and having created little to nothing to show for it.

I think I’m hoping just writing this will make it somehow more real and more inspiring for me. Maybe I think that just getting this one thing – this little, whiny, self-pitying post, as insignificant as it is – will somehow spur me on to do the next little insignificant thing, and another, and another...until maybe I might have enough out there to at least convince myself that I’m creating *something*.

Whatever comes of it, it has to be more than what has been missing.

[nautilustparty]

Fuck you creative block - I ain’t giving up

zero time, zero energy, zero creativity I’m hitting a severe slump creatively, which is a pain in my ass as i’m TRYING to do a 30 day challenge, though I am hitting creative humps I will finish this; this is mainly because I decided to be quite public about this and it pushes me to finish things. I’m not enjoying it right now though. This has happened before, it will happen again, it’s a cycle of creative bursts and creative droughts, one of the many reasons I do this challenge to plunge through the drought and discipline myself to work even when I have no spark. Today I am defeated, I have started an idea, which is ok, but maybe sleep will bring a font of inspiration. Blah blah blah,,, this sucks Here’s a link to all the 30 day audio doodles so far.

[adventurer-c]

Lifetime

Today would have been my brother's 46th birthday. He was 23 when he died. Which means he lived his entire short life...and another full lifetime has passed since he's been gone.

Some years seem more significant than others.... when he had been gone as long as I'd known him, when I turned 24 & had officially outlived him - those kinds of things. Not that it's ever easy. I think humans just like to assign meaning to things. 

I've been feeling both extra creative lately, but also kind of creatively frustrated. I see friends doing amazing things & I'm happy for them & absolutely supportive. (Sometimes I even get to contribute!) But I can't shake the feeling that I am just around the corner from a breakthrough myself - if I could just find some focus.

I reminded myself last night that in the my lifetime I've had amazing opportunities & have put good things in the word. Art shows, photography, writing for legit publications, music, playing on recordings & countless live shows and even a bit of composing. I'd like to do some public speaking but can't find the one thing I'm passionate about to try putting effort into it (or even like maybe 5 things).

I'm about to have fantastic adventures all summer, with friends & family. The two things that usually fuel my creativity are tragedy (which I've had plenty of, thanks universe) & being inspired by people around me. 

I don't know how long my own lifetime will be but I want to spend it creating & putting good things into the world.