Putting it to the Test

Yesterday I asked for some suggestions to overcome this year long writers block and got some great responses. Today has been devoted to putting them to the test. Shanna had told me at one point as well that maybe I needed to give myself permission to do something else for a while, which for some reason I've not been able to do. Today I have. I took Aneeka and Paulette's suggestion to use music that reminds me of my story and create a playlist. The only problem has been that I've got a lot of music. A LOT of music. It would take me 25 days, 5 hours, and 4 minutes to play every song I own. Try on 9,378 songs. I know, I know, it's a ridiculous amount, but music is my second love. When I was in college I couldn't decide whether to be an english or a music major, and it was actually a music scholarship that got me there. I can't help it, I'm obsessed.

So, I've been working on my playlist more by genre than favorite songs. It would take me a week to listen to everything I've got, even if I just listened to ten seconds of each song. I took most of the celtic and classical stuff, added a huge dose of new age and movie soundtracks and I'm done, although it's still to the tune of 2,143 songs. At least I don't have to worry about any repeats, and if a song comes on that doesn't inspire me, I delete it.

So, playlist in place, I tackled Tristi's suggestion. Tristi said " . . . I've had short slumps and it usually means that something in my life is out of balance. I need to clean my house or get my kids on track or just plain rest more -- and after I take care of that stuff, the writing seems to come back." That rang true for me like you wouldn't believe, especially considering the condition my den has been in for the past ten months. Life kind of slammed me for a while and everything got dumped in my den and stayed there. It's time to make it a usable space again.

So today has been full of music and cleaning, with the promise of new bookshelves when I'm done. See, I love to build things. I built my den out of a portion of my garage and it turned out great. Here's a couple of pictures from when I first finished:Sawdust fills me with creativity like nothing else. So, once I've got things cleaned up I'll build myself some new shelves and hope it will further stimulate the creativity that is already freeing up. Thanks, you guys, for taking the time to encourage me and share the things that have helped you. You've made a difference in my life today. I'll be back to writing soon, I can feel it!