Creativity Monday: My Universe-Enforced Break

I think the universe was trying to tell me something today.

I’ve mentioned I’ve been working on a DVD for Hot Off The Press. I’m done designing and filming 100 mixed-media technique videos, as of yesterday. I’ve worked on this project since last November and it’s been super-fun but it’s also a great feeling to be done with something so gigantic.

So today I went to the gym in the morning, as a little break between finishing this DVD and embarking on my next round of magazine deadlines and Studio SN shows. And when I got home at 10:45, I found the door was locked. For the first time in my entire life, I’d forgotten my key. (Let me just say: I’m never without the house key. I’m so fastidious about it that I often end up with a spare set rattling around in my bag.)

Anna and the babysitter were out shopping and they’re always back just before noon for lunch. My phone was dead so I couldn’t call and ask them to come back early. I had an hour to kill and (this is the hard part) nothing to read.

I even double-checked the mailbox to see if I’d missed a magazine. You know, a Sunday delivery or something. Nope.

So I sat on the front step.

And worried. Worried about the deadlines and the projects I wanted to get started on and the mess in my studio and the thought of trying that inking-embossing-plate thing and how many segments could I prep now that I’d lost an hour and why didn’t I have my notepad in my bag at least or a pen or something to feel productive? It was overwhelming.

And then I thought: Well, okay. I really can’t do anything for an hour. I think the world, and my place in it, will still be okay. I actually have no choice but to wait.

When you have limited work time and an overabundance of ideas, it can be.so.difficult to give up even just a bit of time here and there for non-work. And yet it’s something I’m trying to do more of. (Hence, the trip to the gym.) I wanted time to sit and recharge and here it was…and I was inconvenienced by it.

I felt the universe giggle, a little.

Okay, so I got it.

And I got it again when the DHL truck pulled up a minute later and delivered the package of books I ordered a week or so ago. Two for Anna, and one for me. So I sat on the steps in the early spring sunshine and read The Story of Miss Moppet and The Tailor of Gloucester and Steampunk Jewelry to myself and loved it.

An hour in the sunshine with a well-timed book delivery…well, it was a small luxury. And to be completely unable to do anything “productive” kind of changed my perception of productive…because when I finally got inside and back into my studio, I tackled the day with a new kind of energy.

Maybe it was the chance to read children’s books to myself, and really take the time to study the illustrations. (Beatrix Potter’s magic is in the details.) Maybe it was the chance to indulge in some jewelry designs from a talented friend, and a good reminder to send Carolyn a note to say how much I loved her work. Maybe it was just that the sky finally looks like this:

And for that, I’ll take the inconvenience.

Happy Monday!