Friday, July 3, 2009

Welcome to Vacationland

Nearly twenty years ago now, when I worked in an office and was paying off student loans and had no money for holidays, I used to sign out a laptop for a long weekend, or even a week, and stay home to work on a novel. And that is what I was supposed to be doing all of this month, but one day in I've been slaving over knitting patterns instead, until my eyes smart.

My sudden passion to create hats seems strange even to me, although there is a symmetry and depth of thought involved that is not so different from constructing a story. Plus, you know, they keep your head warm a lot more effectively than a book can keep your head dry in a rainstorm... and it is creative, and for all I know I'd be spending the month staring at an empty Word document.

Still, I feel guilty about not writing, and that is a very non-vacation-y thing. I'm going to give it one more day, and if I'm still not pleased with myself come Monday, I will head over to the coffeeshop/second office and see what I can make of the story that was coming along so nicely in the spring.

3 comments:

Kathleen Taylor said...

all creativity comes from the same place- it's all important, whether you're writing a story or knitting a hat. Your job is to make the vision real- how you go about it is irrelevant (and, as you know, writing patterns is work. nasty, boring, danger-laden* work)


*danger-laden in that teeny mistakes can creep in and multiply to become huge mistakes that no one catches until the thing is in print

Mary Keenan said...

The weirdest thing is that even though I very much know this to be true about the nasty boringness that leads inevitably to mammoth error potential...

... I love doing it!

But I am getting cross-eyed :^)

Karen said...

I agree -- all kinds of creativity are important, and it's important to honour them and let them go where they want to. That said, I know what you mean about wanting to get other stuff done in addition to the woolly stuff!

Today's bonus: the word verification thiny is "feradst," which can be typed completely with one's left hand. Coolness.