Let That Idea Spread Like Poison Ivy
It’s okay to be a little itchy
Welcome to the first edition of Creativity Corner! Let’s get to it.
🦉 A Tip
Apparently I stumbled into some poison ivy while working in the yard a couple of weeks ago. I thought I had a bug bite or two on my right arm. Then nine bug bites. And then no, it was a gnarly spreading rash that was so itchy it kept me awake some nights. I haven’t had a poison ivy rash since I was a kid and had no memory of how slowly it takes to appear depending on your contact with the plant—I had new spots show up as recently as the weekend. This brought many lessons, including the value of covering as much skin as possible while I rip out invasive plants and learning how to identify poisonous plants on sight. But it also made me think of ideas…
Sometimes an idea doesn’t pay off right away or doesn’t feel like it clicks immediately. Maybe it’s not an explosion, so you dismiss it. But sometimes ideas need time to manifest—like poison ivy and its freaking urushiol, the oily resin our skin reacts to.
When an idea appears, make a note (do not tell yourself you’ll remember it later, it’s not worth the risk). Don’t give up if the idea doesn’t come in some grand lightning flash. Quiet, sneaky ideas have value. Come back to the idea when it itches. Make notes. Let the idea grow, let it spread. Give it time.
I’ll stop the analogy before we get into applying anti-itch creams, but you get the drift. Also, look out for poison ivy or sumac or oak this summer!
🌠 A Prompt
Apply this to writing, art, crafts, whatever fits for you!
A wildlife photographer who has traveled the world retires. They start their retirement with an art project about the trip or the animal that has stuck with them the most. What place or animal do they honor?
🍄 A Tool
A free or low-cost tool to help your productivity & creativity!
I find a lot of inspiration around the internet—art, photos, locales/things on Atlas Obscura that seem too wild to be real (TREE EYES!), articles that spark ideas, and on and on. I used to bookmark them in a specific folder, but a more helpful, visual tool for me is Pinterest!
Make a private board for anything that inspires you for a story, art, or any kind of creative project and pin everything you find to it. It’s way more engaging and useful to me instead of a list in my bookmarks bar.
🌜 Something Helpful
Something I’ve found helpful in my creative endeavors!
First of all, follow Dahlia Adler; she shares useful author tips all the time. This thread in particular is a guide to researching an agent. If you’re at that stage with your writing and you’re not sure what steps to take to vet a prospective agent, this is a wildly useful step-by-step guide.
RE gloves: what's saved my skin (literally) are the rose bush type gloves - leather that extends up the forearms. I can wade into my rose bush trimming with confidence that not a thorn will get thru - would imagine the same would apply to poison ivy, though you'd have to be careful taking them off not to come in contact with the plant oil.
Hope the itch abates soon! Here's a tool tip for both saving $$ and exploring new books - the library extension app (https://www.libraryextension.com/), which when searching Kindle books, pops up what's available in your selected library(ies) - works for ebooks, audiobooks, and regular books. It's allowed me to explore new authors while saving my money to buy from known favorite authors. Cheers!