Rusting Away

Well this week was spent fixing up loose ends on the site and getting the forums in tip top shape, now all that is left to do is bring in the travelogues and everything will be nearly complete! Aside from tying up loose ends I have spent the majority of the week hiding from the heat!

Because of the recent trips to Georgia and Tennessee and the time I spent locked inside getting the site online, I have been off my regular routine of eating right and exercise. This was not the week to get back on the horse! The temperature every day this week has been in the nineties, which is hot. I have been doing as much exercise inside as I could but well, some stuff just needs to be done outside. Today was when I was going to get back on my running schedule, it did not go well. Today happened to be 99 degrees, the hottest day of the week. Breathing was like sucking air through a dryer vent! I still did my usual circuit but I walked most of it mostly because I couldn't breathe but also because I am out of shape. I must say though, I do feel invigorated and it was was nice to get out of the house so it was beneficial all in all. Hopefully I will stick to the new exercise routine throughout the summer and gain a sense of normalcy again.

It has been a long time since things have felt normal for me. Yes, I am super comfy in my home and day to day life has settled down to some sort of routine but I still feel like things are unsettled. Of course part of the reason is that things are still unresolved at work. Aside from that though, I cant really point out anything that would be throwing off my groove like it has been recently. Perhaps it is the heat but I feel that that is an easy answer to a difficult problem. Right now it feels like I am rusting away, doing little in the way of achieving my goals. I haven't written fiction in what feels like forever, I haven't created anything outside of work or this site either. There is a feeling of dullness, a morass of blah that seems to have covered my desires. Its not that I don't want to write or draw, those desires will never leave me, but at the end of the day I see that I spend most of my time doing nothing. It is part of the reason why I am trying to be more active and the reason I am trying to find a routine.

While the benefits of exercise for the body and the brain are well known I am unsure if a schedule is the answer for sparking my creativity. This is because I tend to get my ideas in spurts, like a bolt of lightning. It is why I often have a pen and paper, or at least my iPod with me, so can jot down notes anywhere and at anytime the notion strikes. This organic form of creativity is wonderful and powerful and when it is in full gear t is amazing to see what comes about. But this type of creativity is also a bear to deal with when you want to harness it, to sit down and pound out a few pages in a story or to work on a certain project. I have had only limited success when writing on a schedule, say every other day at seven, this is because sometimes I have the spark and other days I do not. Reading through even the posts here on the blogs will show you a wide range of writing competence, this is because some posts are forced and others just come, which greatly effects the quality and style of the post. This is something that I feel I must learn to improve, to harness my creativity and have it work for me instead of me being forced to submit to it. But how does one go about doing that? Is it even possible to harness ones creativity, to bottle up the lightning and only let it out when it's time to play? The answer is one I am unsure of and it is an answer we will seek together. For the month of July I will be thinking of ways in which I can spark, inspire or cultivate one's own creativity. Which is where you can help as well! Each of use are unique and different, our lives and experiences can be pooled and shared together and maybe, just maybe we can come up with an answer to one of these questions. So, what inspires you to create? What sources or tools do you use to bring out the creative nature within yourselves? Leave a response in the comments section.

Until next time, sayonara.