#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream
Frozen Fern Frond, Rocky Narrows
What if I run out of creativity?
It's February – my sixth straight month of blogging images and words from #mydailywalk, mostly here, in the Charles River Woods, on Rocky Narrows trails.
Daily, I fear failure, as I start walking my quite familiar trail. I imagine a monotonous landscape will fail to inspire me - or worse, my lack of originality will fail me. As if creativity is a limited resource, and my limited amount has been used up. Today, I worry, I will fail to see freshly - to compose - an image of anything natural and original, mysterious and lovely, fascinating, arresting and thought-provoking to take home with me to write from.
Years and years ago I found and fell in love with this book. I read it still, again and again, because I need reminding that, like the woods, I have a boundless supply of creative energy.
“Brahms once remarked that the mark of an artist is how much he throws away. Nature, the great creator, is always throwing things away. A frog lays several million eggs at a sitting. Only a few dozen of these become tadpoles, and only a few of those become frogs. We can let imagination and practice be as profligate as nature.”
What has nature thrown away today? A spectacular find! A fern frond frozen in snow covered moss, and I remember – I remember what spontaneity is, and how to trust it.
