Input/output is the best way to describe how creativity works for me. Life experience, processed through the brain, creating ideas that are carried out online and elsewhere. It's as if reservoirs are filled with ideas and then consumed by expression and vision. Over time, without filling up those reservoirs with life experience, they have dried to a level dangerously close to a drought. The flow pumping out of the damn has not tasted very good to me for some time. It's has become difficult to re-energize my creative muscles with the murky leftovers at the end of the tap. That's part of the reason there hasn't been a lot of new posts here. I have taken a vacation from the output part of this process to work on collecting more input. I'm looking for new streams in hopes of finding ones that are full of rich material that can be used to refill my engines. Trips to this computer after dinner have turned into trips to my nightstand where there are books that I've been reading.
Through years of working as a news photographer, I've learned to pace myself and put out a consistent product over long periods without breaks. The input at my work is non stop. There is a back up of new ideas that can't be used up fast enough. The constant learning is what I really love about that process.
I'm not sure if I'm in the middle of my blogger vacation or at the end. I guess I'll see tomorrow morning when I look down at this keyboard. It has been really great to see that traffic to this site has stayed fairly consistent even without new posts. It seems that salemites.com is a regular visit for folks looking to see what others in town are writing about. Don't forget that if you have the ability to post here, you are welcome to do so.
Reading is a good thing. So are breaks.
ReplyDeleteJennie is absolutely correct.
ReplyDeleteI also have to admit that I'm guilty of having the ability to post here but haven't. I always felt that whatever I could contribute would be trite compared to what's already here. I'll see if I can step up to the challenge of helping out and posting interesting stuff that my fellow Salemites would want to read.
Meanwhile, Salem Man, I have a cliche for you: Follow Your Heart. If you feel like reading and not posting, then read. Your creative reservoirs will fill up and you'll have a lot more to say here.