When the dawn was still long, long hours away, bad thoughts took on flesh and began to walk
Stephen King
Wonderful quote from Under the Dome by Stephen King
Yet another big idea
And that’s the problem. I have the big ideas, I have a lot of them. I have big ideas for breakfast and then wash them down with a liberal helping of even bigger ideas. I am a big ideas person.
And that’s the problem. The ideas are so big I paralyse myself and I’m unable to start.
I’m interested in spirituality and I’m trying to get things going on a spirituality driven website of mine. But can I start small and let it build up? Can I %*$&. Already I have a related twitter account, the URL of the main site, a blog set up on blogger and there will probably be a facebook page within the hour… oh and then there’s the YouTube channel festering.
Ordinarily that wouldn’t be a problem. All the above are vital to any good web presence. The issue is that I have yet to create any content. I have some ideas and thoughts for what I want the site to be, but they haven’t yet materialised. However, here I am with all the social networks set up, but nothing to say.
I don’t know if this is just me, but it can certainly be frustrating at times. And that frustration causes the paralysis; the creative mountain now feels too high to climb.
I can only write this because I have managed to begin the content creation, but I almost stalled back there. It is an issue I face constantly with my ideas, I try to run before I can walk.
So the advice for today kiddies, is break those ideas down into doable steps or tasks; the walk is much easier than the run.
Scaling up my ability
I play guitar. I’m not particularly good, but I’m not bad. I taught myself about thirty years ago and now I can strum along with most songs. And, as you’ll be hearing soon, I am okay to play on my own music.
But, I can’t play lead guitar. I have sat, or stood, open jawed in awe while others have picked up the guitar and wandered their fingers over the fret board. I still get goose bumps when I hear Dave Gilmor play the lead lines in Comfortably Numb. And I want to be able to at least add a little lead to my recordings.
So, I have been practising my scales. Normally I give up after two or three days but I am keeping up with this. I’m not great yet, and for someone who can strum quite fluidly, going back to slow, measured and read notes is a little frustrating.
If you want to do something, do it, go for it. Even if when you start you find it hard going.
Selling myself short
I often find myself getting annoyed at my lack of progress. I have a lot of things that I want to do and when I don’t get them done, I get annoyed. Now a lot of this is down to setting unrealistic goals, a habit which I am trying to kick, but there is also an element of not realising what I have achieved.
I have been going through a simplicity drive and as part of that was organising my documents files and folders on the computer, google docs and a host of old USB drives. What surprised me was how far I had got with a lot of creative ideas.
And so I thought I’d list them here for a little encouragement to myself, to finish them, and anyone else to know that I do more than just complain that I don’t get anything done.
- 40,000 novel complete, finished and being published soon
- 40,000+ words of a novel – unfinished
- 10,000+ words of a novel – unfinished
- 20+ pieces of music in various stages of recorded production
- one collection of poems – awaiting layout to release as free e-book
And that is without the various images I have at various stages too.
I have learned that I am not great at finishing things, but as the completed novel has shown I can do it. So let’s see what I can finish next.
Shivered
Shivered, my breath caught,
foetal in numbed lassitude
momentary asphyxiation
sweat frozen on iced skin
for one moment… alone
I thought she was gone;
for one moment… together
I though she was here
A dream, my night-terror?
but eyes wide-open in trance.
Sleep, perchance to scream
Awake; and hope to dream
Posted in poem, poetry
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Embarkation – Platform now
It is time to be a little creative. I’m hoping it will be musical, but my current love affair with Photoshop brushes may take control.
There is never a right or wrong time to be creative, but I am about to take a short break from the day job, so I have a little space to connect with the creative side of things, with more than a passing nod.
And there is only one thing that will stop me… myself. The only reason I won’t do what I want to do is because I don’t want to (or I die).
So, I want to do some musical activity, therefore I will. I don’t do Latin, but if I did it may be something like this…
creare ergo sum
Infinite OZ | Tin Man | SCIFI.COM
Infinite OZ | Tin Man | SCIFI.COM:
Now that’s what I call flash
Posted in art, awesome
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Four chord song
With reference to the wonderful routine by Axis of Awesome, I just realised that I have written at least one four chord song. But also realised why I haven’t had a hit. I used the four chords on the verse and not the chorus. Still, you can’t always win can you? And if I had used the chords on the chorus I wouldn’t really be promoting my punk roots. Although the fact that I’ve used four instead of three chords has spat on my punk roots.
Fables of the deconstruction
You are what you consume. Well I was consuming what I was and got indigestion. I realised there was a difference in perception / reflection and direction. Time to decontruct and be who I am not what I eat or consume.
And so this is here. open. honest. creating and not reacting.