In the beginning there was nothing.
Then there was something.
Then more something.
Etc.
And now
it’s just
really
really
crowded.

The frequency illusion (also known as the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon) is a cognitive bias in which a person notices a specific concept, word, or product more frequently after recently becoming aware of it.

Wikipedia

We aren’t looking for a new car right now, but this always happens when we are looking for a new car. Also, I had a weird dream years ago that I don’t recall now at all, but the entire following morning my brain was picking out the number 2 everywhere. I think the brain is a computer looking for programming.

And somehow my brain thinks this is related, but like opposite maybe:

The Somebody Else’s Problem field… relies on people’s natural predisposition not to see anything they don’t want to, weren’t expecting, or can’t explain. If Effrafax had painted the mountain pink and erected a cheap and simple Somebody Else’s Problem field on it, then people would have walked past the mountain, round it, even over it, and simply never have noticed that the thing was there.

Douglas Adams, Life, The Universe, and Everything

We work too hard. We try too hard.

Don’t try. Don’t work. It’s there. Looking right at us, aching to kick out of the closed womb.

Charles Bukowski in a letter to friend William Packard

See also:

Do. Or do not. There is no try.

Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back

Nobody ever takes note of it because it’s not the answer they want to hear. What they want to hear is “Here’s how you get an agent…” or “Here’s how to write a script…”. But I always say “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” If somebody is thinking “How can I be really good?” people are going to come to you. It’s much easier doing it that way than going to cocktail parties.

Steve Martin

There’s a bit of Steve Martin stuff in my orbit lately – the 2 part documentary on AppleTV, Only Murders in the Building, and that clip of him on Charlie Rose years ago where he says the above quote. All excellent.

The past couple weeks have been a blur of prioritizing other people over myself, and I’m exhausted. Of course this happens all the time as an adult, a parent, a husband, an employee. You strive for balance. It hasn’t felt very balanced. It was made worse of course by my complete failure to organize the time I did have for myself, instead falling back on bad habits. Wasting time on the Reddit, or Youtube is easier to justify when you’re mentally and physically wore out. It’s hard to create when you’re in this state, but it’s not impossible.

Random experiences are important for new creative ideas, and putting yourself in the path of randomness can be beneficial. Many years ago I’d sit in a public place, like the food court at the mall, and sketch the people and things I saw as they wandered by. You never knew what you would see. But even without the sketch pad, placing your mind and body in the way of the new and unfamiliar is the point. Maybe creating while tired, if you can convince yourself it’s in the same category, could be something very similar. Your mind does some strange business when it’s not operating at full capacity. It often connects some odd dots. Isn’t that the headspace artists are looking for?

While I consider how to better use the little personal time I have, please enjoy this silly drawing of Robot stranded on a floating rock. It has no connection to anything I’ve written here today, which I guess makes it random, and therefore wholly connected to everything I’ve written here today.

Lately I’ve been oscillating between writing a new comic story, experimenting with watercolour, and drawing an adventurous space frog. This is a sketch in Procreate, I’ll ink and colour it later. I’ve taken a break from drawing this frog to work on some title text for it in Affinity Designer.

The comic writing is coming along well, too. It’s not related to this frog, but it’s a fun space story with Robot and Francis the sheep, and some new characters. But it’s taking me a while, so I want to write a single page comic in the mean time just to have something to draw while I finish the big story. This is a thing that happens, where I take on too much and nothing gets finished. Don’t ask about unnamed owl story, it’s first draft is sitting over there begging to also be worked on. I’m surrounded by works in progress.

The good news is I’m more focused on what I’m making than ever before. The bad news is Reddit exists and I have little self control.

So I’m a work in progress, too.

I was sick this week. Some mild flu I guess, nausea, muscle aches, chills. It wasn’t bad enough to keep me in bed, but I didn’t have enough energy to do anything. So I just sat around being bored and feeling like crap for 3 days. Then I slipped on some ice and hurt my wrist. So It’s been a week.

But it wasn’t entirely miserable. Cracker Jack’s high school band played a concert which I always enjoy. I’m making an effort to read more, mindlessly web surf less, and that just feels good. The weather has been milder, which makes morning walks a happier experience.

See? Balance. Namaste, or whatever.

And in case you want to know what I’m currently reading, here it is: The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin, and Nemesis by Isaac Asimov.

This watercolour drawing of Francis the sheep sitting on a rock eating a sandwich reminds of this discarded lyric from Fitter Happier by Radiohead:

Fitter, healthier and more productive
A sheep
On a rock
Eating a sammich

None of this is true. But! Fresh air and a walk is good for creative thought, and it’s generally free, so go get some. And leave the iPhone out of your ears and in your pocket. Let the world be your soundtrack, man. Namaste, or whatever.