EPISODE 3: Surviving December - Production vs. Inspiration

Show Notes

Episode 3: Surviving December - Production vs. Inspiration

December is here and we're dragging a bit under the weight of the impending holidays and related fun. Dan has been learning how to edit the podcast and conquering the learning curve. Despite frustrations, it's interesting because it involved new technology. Dan is busy at his day job tapping into production skills for a big, huge, mega project that is rushed and just needs to get done.

Susan has been prepping for the holidays, a 6th birthday party and tons of craziness at work. The kiddo's birthday party will be a Crafty theme, and Susan has been working on an assortment of crafts for the birthday. The dreaded Christmas knitting is dragging and Susan is no enjoying having to do obligation knitting.

Dan thinks that the dragging part is just an expected part of the creative process, and that cranking through production does with any project after the initial spark has passed. But this isn't the exciting and fun part of creativity, so it isn't often talked about - the ups and downs of the creative process.

Susan is feeling stuck creatively. and kind of whiny about it. However, the birthday party planning is very creative and Susan is prepping a variety of crafts for the crowd: weaving on cards (Kids Weaving tutorial on CreativeBug), Shrinky Dink jewelry making (also a tutorial on CreativeBug), cupcake snowmen with marshmallows (inspiration found on Pinterest). Mostly, she just wants to keep the kids busy so that they don't destroy the apartment.

Susan is inspired by going in new directions, so she went to the library to check out a couple of books to fuel her inspiration: Tapestry Weaving by Kirsten Glassbrook (Search Press, 2002) and Handsewn: The Essential Techniques for Tailoring and Embellishment by Margaret Rowan (2014, Interweave Press).

Dan is inspired by technology and learning how to work with audio, despite frustration with the software. He's enjoying that editing changes the tone or feel of the podcast and is creative storytelling in its own way.

Artomatic is still happening for another week. Dan is still thinking about it, but not as much as he was when it first opened.

Goals for this week? Dan's is to get the first episode of the podcast edited and presentable to the public. Susan's goal is to survive the many events of the week and to muscle through the dreaded knitting project.

The Marshmallow Snowmen Cupcakes were a hit with the 6-year olds. Highly recommended.