I took a friend to a local attraction for her birthday. Though I’ve lived here for fifty years, I’ve not taken the time, or had the interest, to visit the attraction. I enjoyed the self-guided audio tour. I learned a bit about the history of the man who built the place. As I wandered the shop, I asked my friend about certain designs and objects on the shelves. I realized it has been a long time since I’ve broken away from my routine and had a day of adventure in a new place.
One question creative people are asked is where they get their inspiration. I wrote a book about living the creative life where I encouraged readers to look around them for inspiration. Life is the fodder for creativity. Information that we take in through the senses stirs the imagination. We might ask who lived here, what happened to them, what could change in the future. The sounds, smells, textures we notice feed the imagination. Perhaps images appear in our mind’s eye, or a color that depicts an emotion, or words in various formats.
Julia Cameron wrote The Artist’s Way. She encouraged artists to take themselves on dates. To fill up the well of their imaginations with new or different experiences. I thought of this as I walked through the site listening to what the buildings were used for, how they were built, and who lived there. I realized my well hadn’t been filled in a while. A drop here or there isn’t enough. And with the increasing noise of the world (the news, social media, AI content, etc.), my well feels like it has been abandoned.
Forward movement happens with small actions. A couple of days this week, I took that small action. I’ve finished reading and editing the blog posts. Now that I know what I’d written, I can condense the posts into useful information. The trip to the local attraction stirred my imagination. I can see how the book might be organized. I have a title. I’ve talked with a graphic designer about the cover. I won’t waste this momentum, or the spark of excitement from the outing.
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