until it's written

so often, in fact most of the time, i don't know what i am writing until i write it.
to some people, most i have found, this is a foreign concept.
but that population is made mostly of non-writers.
or people that aren't close with writers.

ones that share their strange, weird, incomprehensible process.

but, as one of my professors at the VCU Brandcenter, Mark Fenske taught me my first semester at the school (then called the Adcenter) was that you don't wait for the idea.
you go after it.

in my experience that involves hunting for it.
scrounging for it.
looking under the most random rock in a field of air.
fighting the idea that you're a hack.
believing it for minute.
then fighting it again.

and then there's the fight to work too much.
to not take a break.
because if you don't feed your brain with stimuli, what will you have to produce anything worthwhile with?

this is kind of my own version of a relatively common phrase i have heard a lot of ... well, an expanded version anyway:

"If you spend all your time pouring yourself out, and don't let anyone/anything pour into you, in short order you'll be empty and whomever or whatever you were pouring into will be as empty as you. Then neither one of you will have anything but disappointment and dissatisfaction."

so, anyway, all that to say, and here we are, moving right along ...

do it, even when you don't feel like doing it.
even more so when you don't feel like doing it.
whatever the IT is that you have, that is worthy of your noble pursuit and action.
because it is at that time especially, that you will find yourself more proud and glad you did.
because that is where you will find lasting joy, rather than temporal happiness.

don't believe me?
try it.

you'll see.
oh, you'll ALL see.

speaking of seeing, here is something really cool that i found when searching for the best bio for Fenske.
also my first semester at the Brandcenter, he gave us an assignment in his class titled Creative Thinking, that was as follows:

Men, be women.
Women, be men.*

*Don't follow these instructions.

so, the day he gave us that, he came to class in full drag, to show us exactly what he DIDN'T want us to do (and, for most of us, his disapproval was enough motivation).

but, on him being in drag, it was pretty dang incredible considering he wears something ridiculous like a 16EE pump, was awesome.
here you can see all the heavyweights of advertising in similar garb, to promote a very important message.

please to enjoy.