Life, and Other Stuff

I found myself stuck in a creative slump recently, feeling like I needed to try and change some things up, try something else.

What do YOU do in times like those?

I turned to my other hobbies, trying to shake something loose, and eventually had a thought, about other people and the hobbies that they keep, that led me to a fun and interesting little thought exercise that pulled me out of the creative bog I was in.

I started thinking about how people keep the hobbies they really love their whole lives, maybe close, maybe far, but always somewhere around, at reach for when they have the time.  I thought about stereotypical examples of classic hobbies, musical instruments, model building, train sets, things you can picture a bowl-cutted kid in a colourful, stripy sweater and jeans playing with in a wood-panelled basement. How those hobbies, and that imaginary young hobbyist, would change and age, what that would look like, how it would affect their life, or career.

But then, I realised that kids have been different for a while now, people in general, are different, and that’s where things got interesting.  

Do shark-like, business-minded wall street types go home to play with their trainsets, sometimes? If they do, why? Where did that little obsession come from, does it function the same as the classical perception of it? Does the life they lead outside their hobby have a visible effect on the way they engage in it?

Pick any character, and any hobby, for example –

A judge, wittling trinkets,

A doctor, trainspotting,

A gravedigger, painting,

Spend a while asking questions about why they do it, how they do it, what it is that compels them to it or the satisfaction they take from it, and somewhere along the line, a story will start to take place.

What should I do next time I feel low on fresh ideas? Feel free to leave a suggestion or share how you get over your creative humps!