"Creative Wanderings"

I've been spending a good deal of my free time lately immersing myself in a simple little online game called NationStates. Noted earlier in my weblog, NationStates is a nation simulation game. You create your own country, fashioned after your own ideals, and care for its people in whatever way you feel inclined.

Well, my country of Tessen seems to doing pretty well. Good personal and political freedoms, thriving economy, strong morals, everything. But, there's one little thing I've noticed.... I tend to spend a little too much time and creativity in this thing. I've even created a whole webpage of national statistics for the country. That's not a good sign. :P

But then again, maybe I'm just in limbo right now when it comes to major creative projects, so I find other things to focus my mind upon. Other things like NationStates. Right now, the freelance project on my plate isn't really design-based, I'm waiting a week yet to hear from the director of "To Kill a Mockingbird" for which I auditioned last month, and I've got a little bit of 'creators block' when it comes to any new personal artwork. My away-from-home job deals more with editing than design, and my mind is on other pressing matters than good 'ole artistic creativity.

And oh, how I would love to spend 8-12 hours of my day on a film set, again. Or a regular work day punching out drawings and concepts for scientific worlds and universes. I watch as the days grow less and less before "Mr. 3000" is released -- the movie for which I spent most of last summer filming -- and I long to be doing something creative like that again. Something so exciting that I hardly even realize that it's actually work.

But, sometimes pursuing work in the field(s) I'm in is more a matter of patience than anything else. There are spurts of pure creativity and excitement.... and then there are long periods of downtime before things take off again. It can be frustrating sometimes. Very frustrating.

But then there are the little things like NationStates or the little ideas that churn about inside my brain looking for a concept to grab them and make them real. Perhaps it's times like these that mirror the life of a flower. It blooms beautifully for a few days and then wilts, only to be replaced a little later by a new flower that buds and grows into a beautiful successor. Perhaps creativity, like all other things in life, is just like that. It needs downtime to recharge and grow anew.

Maybe, right now, I'm just recharging my creativity for larger projects yet to come. And while I'm doing that, my mind is finding other places where that creativity can wander. Then, when a new opportunity comes around, it can bloom into exciting new projects.

There's a certain thrill in that mindest. The thrill of wondering what will come next. Anticipation. Mystery. The unknown. I can only imagine what that will be.

For now, I suppose I'll just enjoy the simpler things a creative mind notices, and remember that not every day has to be loaded with challenge and excitement.

Have a blessed Labor Day all, and look for the enjoyment in life... even if it's small. Life is too short to waste on boredom.

Your happily blogging friend,
-Jon
posted by Jon at 9:46 PM  I   I  0 comments