Writer's block

Echinacea at the Chicago Botanic Garden, photo credit Kandy M. Christensen

Rambling Past Writer's Block

I have been reading The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin, which I highly recommend, and something I read this morning was highly apropos to my recent bout of writer's block. To sum up what he said- get writing. Put words to paper and you will move past your writer's block. 

So today I'm just going to start writing and hopefully something relevant and useful to you, my dear audience, will come through! 

While I do occasionally suffer from writer's block I think sometimes I get overwhelmed by all the different avenues of creativity. I need to write, sew, draft patterns, teach and learn new skills. Judith I really liked your idea of getting back to basics. I think I forget that I have a mind body connection and that there are things I have been doing so long that my body knows how to do it even when I think I don't. That is why I do find it so difficult to teach people how to make a tailors knot! I've been doing it for so long that I don't even have to think about it. 

I have also found that sometimes I just need to do it, which is why Seth's advice is so useful. I often have multiple piles of fabric and projects. Then those piles get big and overwhelming and I don't even know where to start. In that case I just grab what is on top of the pile and get to work. Where I used to work we had a system called 'pileology' because you knew what was in each pile and each pile had a specific priority. Yet, sometimes those piles would morph into one monster pile and it was all a disaster. Then 'pileology' broke down. I am in the midst of a pileology break down! 

What makes what I do for Meandering Design challenging and interesting is that I often do not have a specific list of things to make. My process is a little different because what I make is dictated by the materials I am able to find. For example the other day I had a skirt that I bought from the thrift store and I cut it up and made it into little clutch purses. I needed something to line those purses and so I pulled out a toile place mat that someone had given me because they no longer used it. 

For today I'm going to just keep grabbing things and making them. I definitely have some ideas percolating about a suit that a friend's husband gave me. I think it will make a great messenger bag. I better add that fabric to the top of the pile!

KMC  

Originally published 8/16/13