Technology Meltdown

Today promised to be full of opportunity to write or quilt which are two of my favorite ways to be creative. I don't mean that there weren't many other obligations, but still time seemed to be on my side. My sister would laugh at my ability to be so hopeful or rather naive about how the days tend to unfold, but I really did believe there would be some quality me time.

And of course there wasn't, except for right now. I am claiming these precious few moments. See me standing here on top of the mountain of other things that ended up needing to be done, and right beneath my feet you will see my half-dead Dell computer and my Hp printer's ornery print drivers. I am the one with my feet balancing upon the peak holding my flag planted at the top. It is not a white flag. I am stubborn beyond normal amounts of reason, and I won't give up. On that flag are a quilt block and words, lots of them.

Aside from the regular dishes and driving and other fun stuff, our primary household computer turned itself off while my daughter was on it yesterday. A less stubborn person would have called the computer guy/place and washed their hands of it, but I am sort of savvy and seriously motivated to do-it-myself, so I tried a few things I know. Then I took out the manual and read the section called, "Advanced Troubleshooting." My computer had not, apparently read that section, because the diagnosis and resolution did not enlighten my dark computer. I even got out my work computer and researched online, but those symptoms did not have anything to do with the reality of my computer's illness. Finally late last night, I emailed the tech guy, and early this morning, he emailed to bring it to his office. After picking up my daughter from Driver's Ed and enjoying a delicious lunch at Avenue Bread with her. I drove it to his office half-way across town.

Since I have a workshop next week for four days, I need a computer which I am on right now. It is my daughter's computer which we actually bought to bring her grandmother into the computer-age, but my mother-in-law liked the previous age just fine and finally gave up and sent it back. It is not connected to a printer though, and I need to print. This evening, I got to use my creative juice to fight the printer driver. It did not want to install. The computer also doesn't like to "see" the cd drive. It prefers from some unknown reason to be friendly with the antiquated floppy drive. Even downloading drivers didn't seem to work. Eventually though I did resolve the situation and could successfully print. I took on the challenge at 5pm and finished at 8pm, although I did take 30 minutes off to drive my oldest daughter to her boyfriend's house before my head exploded.

So I win the printer fight, the computer fight victor is yet undetermined, and the creative time fight is sort of a draw. I am writing, and if you are reading this and like it, then maybe it isn't a draw, that would definitely be a win. As with the prognosis for the computer, this battle is too soon to call.

Day Dreaming

It's technically summer vacation.

I say technically because as a mother-teacher-writer-quilter vacation time is often slim. My daughters think summer vacation is for me to drive them places, much like a chauffeur without the pay. I spent two hours on the phone this morning trying to sort out the various requirements for getting seen my a medical specialist. This does not include the two hour drive time to reach the specialist. I have written two weeks of morning pages as instructed by Julia Cameron's The Artists Way, but have only written stories in my head while I hike with my dog, Juno. Juno doesn't care if I write, teach, quilt or drive teens; she only cares to have a walk, run or hike. The latter is her first choice because it can be done off-leash, so she can sniff, climb, roll or wallow to her heart's content...hosing off is sure to follow.

I celebrated a birthday, #44, last week, and my family gave me Saturday to myself. More than half of that time was spent stewing over what to create. The day lay before me luxurious, like the stretch of a long-sleeping cat. Then evil monkey mind took over. My daughter was crabby, and I stewed. I'd finished one quilt and couldn't decide which undone project to pursue. I checked my email. I played a game on the computer. I took a nap.

The pressure to use the creative time wisely is the real spoiler of creativity. The reality of time available weighs heavy, sometimes like a boulder, sometimes like a building. I came out from under it like I always do by getting into motion. I just began. I took out Asian fan quilt blocks that I loved (and completed several years ago) and set them out and worked through the design and sewed. Those blocks now lay 2/3 assembled, and I am satisfied.

How do you get past creative blocks? I'd say with whatever time you have, DO something. Thinking about it is never enough.