(or, Now That Something Something Took My Creativity Away)

1) I am currently in what would best be described as a creative funk. And I don't mean the good kind funk, which everyone knows starts with a "ph", as in phunk. I mean the bad kind of funk, where I sit in front of the computer and stare at the vast white tundra of emptiness that is Document6, counting the cursor blinks and waiting for the idea I'm certain will come as surely as Godot.

By the way, other negative F words that suddenly turn positive when changed to PH words include fat, felony, flannel, flatulence, flu, forgery, and fungus.

The most famous example of the positive power of the PH-for-F substitution happened last year when the Filadelfia Fillies finally changed their name to the Philadelphia Phillies and suddenly won the World Series¹.

Of course, the PH-for-F substitution does have its limits. Phox News and Phabio are still awful, regardless of their spelling.

2) I've been attempting to turn my funk into a phunk by immersing myself in other people's creativity. Specifically, I've been:

• watching Ze Frank's "Hard Times" series. They are short, clever videos that seem perfect for the times we're living in.
• watching Ze Frank's "That Makes Me Think Of" series for Time magazine. I loved when he played this game on The Show and I'm stoked he resurrected it in this new venue.
• reading through the archives of Blogography (found via an Adventure Journalist comment) and The Typing Makes Me Sound Busy (found via Favrd, @gordonshumway on Twitter). Both writers are immensely creative, funny, and personal. Like so many people I read, I wish I could write like them.
• listening to the music of Nataly Dawn and Jack Conte, a.k.a. Pomplamoose (found via Glynnis). Their videosongs make me smile. After watching a few of their songs, I'm inspired to run over to the piano to bang on the keys for a bit. They follow two simple rules: 1. What you see is what you hear. 2. If you hear it, at some point you'll see it. I've embedded one of their videosongs for our collective entertainment and inspiration. It's a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson". (I love the exposed strings of the piano!)

3) This brings us to the heart of the matter. I know full well "creative funk" is really just a euphemism for "mental laziness", a phrase I'd use if it didn't repulse me so much (or hit so close to home). Creativity requires work and persistence. Anything worth creating requires practice. For some reason, I've been resisting practicing. That resistance paired with an unrealistic expectation of a blog entry masterpiece led directly to blogstipation (a pseudo-clever word for procrastination), which explains why a week goes by between anything appearing here.

4) What I'm really trying to say is that I want to reclaim this space as my playground. I don't think either of you out there thought this was anything but a playground, but somewhere along the way I apparently began thinking this was a place of seriousness, and I need to stop.

¹ Part of that sentence is phalse, but I'm not saying which part.