Finding Inspiration

The thing about being an artist is that you are consistently looking for inspiration. Things that are fresh and new are built on the foundation of things that are tired and over used. T.S. Elliot said that 'good poet’s barrow, great poets steal'. I feel like I'm forever barrowing ideas, but I hardly ever have the guts to steal. The Greeks had Muses, who gave them inspiration. It’s an interesting concept; that inspiration comes from some mystical, un-seeable force. However, I think inspiration means hard work.


I find my inspiration in knitting patterns, stories I grew up on, new stories I read, movies, music and most importantly online news. I read Wired.com and BBC News everyday at work. I read reviews on new equipment and fill my brain with new knowledge on science and technology, I learn about the history that is being written now in the world. Amazing how much technology can give you a base for imagining a different world. I'm writing a Novel based in a different universe. A universe where there are parallel worlds and a government that is controlling and surveillance heavy. The technology of surveillance is perhaps one of the scariest and most interesting subjects I come a-crossed on regular bases. What's scarier then the government watching you and tracking your every move?

It took me a while to realize that what I take in, what I research for fun, and what I experience in life, is the bases for my creativity. Somehow, from all the information and curiosity of my mind, I am able to create something uniform. The overload of everything floating through the ethos becomes a single stream of conscious thought. All the various ribbons of dancing light gather into one string. What I create is stronger because it is based on so much.

Of course the difficulty in this world where information is only a Google search away, is too much information. You have to decide which information to use and what to throw away. Finding usable inspiration is like finding a needle in a dung heap. T.S. Elliot says to be great you must steal, but I would say a great poet (writer, artist, and performer), must know what to steal. And here we get back to the work. Art, creativity, is something that you have to work at. People are not born with the ability to draw or write or even sing. Sure some have the natural ability to do those things. But its only those who grow and work that ability that ever have a chance to go somewhere. And its a slim chance. Plenty of people with no ability as are working hard to have the same chance. Finding Inspiration is Work.

Too Much

I guess I was bored or something. Work, Home Group, this blog, and Church, just was not taking up enough of my time. I needed more to do. So I started seeds in planters which are still crowding my desk, and I now have bunch of little green stalks with two leaves each. At the moment they don't look like anything, they will soon be herbs and swiss chard.


Yet having a container garden to look forward to was still not enough. So I decided to join the group organizing the community garden at Church. I'm one of the people organizing the 'beautification' part of the plan. I even drew out how the one border we are planting this year will look like. I even drew it to scale, ya that's right, to scale. But obviously that was not enough either, so now I am helping to organize fund raising for the Sudan trip my Church is doing. (I'm not going sadly). Oh and I might end up doing the social media for both the garden and the Sudan trip too.

Finally I took on a huge project at work, and I have another one in the works (and I'm working overtime).

And I'm completely happy. Maybe being busy is better. I tend to be more productive when I 'have' to get something done.

Unfortunately this blog has been falling to the way side. I'll try better to keep it updated, but for some reason its getting harder. And here it is Friday... I so need to sleep.