Creative Alchemy

New Year's Unresolutions

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. The reasoning behind this is pretty simple. Usually (this year being no exception), I spend the first few days of the New Year paralysed by fear. I’m talking serious no-sleep, nails-dug-deep-into-the-palms- of-my-hands terror. I don’t sleep or eat properly (unless you count chocolate and toast as one of the major food groups). I stop writing, painting, communicating with the outside world on any kind of deep level, and I waste countless hours glued to trashy geek sci-fi (the more escapist the better) or chat shows (other people’s problems are so much easier to solve by shouting at the TV). All of this usually takes place from the safety of my sofa, in my pyjamas.

Ever get stuck?

I have something a little embarrassing to admit. Over the past few days I seem to have developed a bit of a creative block with writing this blog. I’ve been making cups of tea, hoovering the rug, even doing my filing, anything really to avoid the inevitable, that I have to sit down and write. So, jumping swiftly past the obvious and amusing irony of the situation, its got me thinking about where these blocks come from, and what you can do when they occur.

Things I do which make the block bigger and scarier:

Watching tv: however much I love re-runs of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, they numb my mind, and stop me thinking. Bliss for a while, but ultimately unproductive. Turn it off. Now.