Thoughts on Desire and Creativity

One of the things that I do in my normal morning routine, after getting the kids breakfast and fixing myself a cup of coffee, is check up on all my favorite blogs.  This morning Sarai over at Coletterie had an interesting post about shopping and creativity.  For those of you who don't know, in addition to blogging and various other hobbies and being a full-time mom, I also work part time at a fairly well-known retail store.

The thoughts from the post really resonated with me.  Since I work in that environment, I find that I am more aware of the way retail stores use the science behind wanting to their advantage.  Like Sarai from Colette, I also find that I love window shopping but dislike having to actually shop to buy.  I find it overwhelming and exhausting.

Her thoughts on how all of this relates to creativity got me thinking about the way I approach crafting.  Specifically how  I "suffer" from acute startitis, and I know I'm not the only one.  Startitis is when you have a habit of starting projects but never finishing them.  Through discipline, I've gotten a lot better about finishing what I start.  That includes being more mindful about choosing what projects I will actually make.

But I still find myself queuing up ideas and projects almost constantly.  I make lists and lists of ideas, and look at hundreds of patterns.  I think this is the equivalent of window shopping in the crafter's world.  Inspiration overload.  Because when it comes time to actually make something, I find myself in the same position as when I'm shopping in a retail store.  Overwhelmed by choices and exhausted at the thought of how many things I "need" to finish.

So how do you pair it all down?  How to choose what is actually important to make, and what ideas you can let slip back into the stew that is inspiration?  These are things that I am considering today, as I work on several projects from my to-do pile.

-Sparrow