11 October 2009

Creativity - Every Day

Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. Thomas Alva Edison.
As a creative person I don't seem to actually do a lot of "creating". I talk about it, I think about it, but I don't actually do it. I think sometimes the issue is that I sit around waiting for the inspiration to hit while wasting my time doing ... stuff. Stuff like surfing the net, Facebooking, playing silly games, watching TV. Actually, for someone who doesn't own a TV, I watch a huge amount of TV. The advent of past TV series on DVD has been my downfall.

I have decided that the only way I'm going to overcome this lack of creating is to start putting in the perspiration bit on a daily basis. I'm pretty certain I'm not going to succeed, at least not immediately, but I am aiming to do something creative every day.

My rules are pretty simple. Something every day. Can not be housework (cleaning, vaccuming, mopping, dishes, laundry), can not be shopping, and, as much as I love it, can not be reading. If I include reading I'll never do anything else. It can include cooking (not sausages and eggs LOL), gardening, decorating/renovations, sewing (obviously, since that is my main hobby), and any other craft activities. Reading about projects doesn't count, I actually have to do something tangible.

I'm thinking if I'm blogging about it, maybe I'll push myself to do something. On the other hand, maybe blogging will take up time I should be using for creating, so we'll see how that goes. My on-line quilting group has a "Friday Flaunt" where members post their blog addies with their creative efforts for the week, so initially I'll make it my goal to blog at least once a week.

Believing that today is always the best time to start anything, I have started. It's a partial cheat. We don't like commercial tartare sauce and Tuesday night is fish & chip night and we're out of tartare. Tartare needs a bit of time to sit and mature. It's sort of a "have to do" but it is still creative.



My tartare sauce recipe:

1 jar of the absolute best mayo you can get. I only buy one without fake anything in it.
1 or 2 large "branches" of Italian flat leaf parsley (from the herb garden)
couple of stalks of tarragon, leaves only ditch the stalks (also from the herb garden)
2 spring onions (ditto the garden :-)
2 large dill gerkins
2 tablespoons of capers

Put everything except the mayo in the food processor until teeny tiny. Stir it through the mayo. Store for two or three days before eating. Yummo.

Note: always check the bits from the herb garden for visitors. They're best removed before you chuck everything in the food processor!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Welcome back to blogger land!

I remember reading your last post! How tragic am I! Living out here so much. The up side is all the inspration out here.

What is that little beastie that you saved from the blender?

Hugz

Jeri Dansky said...

Hi SueBK,

Some stuff that might interest you: Merlin Mann of 43 folders has been writing a lot about creativity over the last year or so; he talks about "making time to make."

He's also a big fan of Twyla Tharp's book, The Creative Habit.

SueBK said...

I'm not really sure what he is Sally. Long grey caterpillar with legs at the front and the back. Liked the dill! Probably liked lots of other things in my patch too.

SueBK said...

Jeri, thanks for the recommendations; I'll be sure to check the library catalogue.