Wear the white jeans.

Dear Friends--

Your creative prompt for this week is to wear your white jeans.

Okay, I don't mean you should literally wear your white jeans, unless of course you have some excellent white jeans and you really, really want to wear them.

What I'd like you to do is to think of white jeans as a metaphor.

You know, how you might hesitate when it comes to wearing your white jeans because you're afraid of getting dirt on them or spilling a glass of sangria all over them or even getting into the big fight with a very angry bull and getting blood all over them!

 

Oh dear!  That does sound dramatic.  Perhaps I have Hemingway on my brain, but then again, I can't quite imagine Hemingway wearing white jeans, so forget about that last image.

 

Here's the point.  If we wait to wear our white jeans (metaphorically speaking) or if we wait to face the blank page or wait to jump into the ring until we feel that nothing bad will happen, well, it's unlikely that we'll ever get started on something new and amazing and creative and daring and different.

 

To create, you must be willing to take chances, to possibly get dirty, or messy.  You must not be afraid of getting sangria all over your pants!  

 

However, you must also be willing to face the possibility that absolutely NOTHING will happen.  You will circle around and around and around, and no sangria arrives, no bulls are let out of the ring and there's not even a speck of dust to sully your white pants...I mean the white page, the blank canvas.  

 

Oftentimes, this is what blocks us--the possibility of something happening and the possibility of nothing happening.  

 

But, I will tell you this.  The muse is fickle and funny and she likes to flirt and tease.  She will show up when you least expect it.  But all you have to do is show up.  Everyday, no matter what.  Show your muse that you're in it for the long run.  You're faithful and you're not going anywhere.  You will be there in your white jeans and you will be there in your brown corduroys.  You will be there in your pj's and you will be there in your prom gown.  She likes that kind of commitment.

 

So, for today's creative assignment.  Start your project with this:

 

The woman in 3B stopped him in the lobby on Friday and said she had a situation involving water and an exotic animal and that he needed to come into her apartment right away.

 

You could paint something, write something, choreograph a dance or create a song from this.  Most important, get started, get "dirty" and have fun!

 

Jamie