Ruts: easy to get in and not so easy to get out of

Last night I was thinking about a story my mum once told me about traveling with her sister, my Auntie Lynn. After an indecisive conversation about what to do, my Auntie Lynn said "It doesn't matter what we do, just as long as we do something." I think about this story a lot since doing something is always better than doing nothing. I was thinking about this story last night because I believe I'm officially in a creative rut and am officially upset about it. Over the past months, I've stared at blank screens, blank pages, and blank surfaces. I've sharpened pencils, purchased new pens and lovingly smoothed the bristles in my favourite paint brushes. I've organized scraps of fabric, taken stock of paint, and managed a smile or two at a scenario for my dormant novel. I've dusted off my cameras and checked their batteries. I've stared at stunning art, I've read evocative books, I've listened to the most perfect songs. I've felt embers of creativity in me but I've done nothing with them. I've stared at my own creativity as I've stared at my orchid in its window perch these past few months: is that a sign of life? is that a root? a sprout? or just the potting bark? Am I going to get more flowers or just a leaf? All my staring and wondering will not make my orchid bloom: I just need to provide it with the sun and water it needs and then let it do its orchidy magic. After my full acknowledgment last night that I am indeed in a rut, I realized I am not providing creativity with what it needs to thrive. And so, this morning, after turning on the Four Tops at a volume wholly unsuitable for the stillness of the morning, I determined to do something rather than nothing. Very conveniently, my lovely friend sent me the perfect link this morning. He sent me a link to story called "How to Be Interesting" on Russell Davies's blog . In this entry Davies offers the following bits of advice which seem pretty inspiring to me.

1. Take at least one picture everyday. Post it to flickr.
2. Start a blog. Write at least one sentence every week.
3. Keep a scrapbook
4. Every week, read a magazine you’ve never read before
5. Once a month interview someone for 20 minutes, work out how to make them interesting. Podcast it.
6. Collect something
7. Once a week sit in a coffee-shop or cafe for an hour and listen to other people’s conversations. Take notes. Blog about it. (Carefully)
8. Every month write 50 words about one piece of visual art, one piece of writing, one piece of music and one piece of film or TV. Do other art forms if you can. Blog about it
9. Make something
10. Read:Understanding Comics - Scott McCloud, The Mezzanine - Nicholson Baker, The Visual Display Of Quantitative Information - Edward Tufte. All these books are good for their own reasons but they’re also good examples of people who are really interested in stuff that others think of as banal and who explain it in a way that makes you share their passion. That's good.

I'm going to use these ideas as a way to work my way out of my rut and will post various bits of whatever emerges from the above suggestions to this blog. I invite you too to do and share any of the above.