Like a Bear, I Percolate.

I had a good two-week run of heightened creativity and feverish productivity.

But that came to an end yesterday.

I started to feel I had exhausted all my ongoing projects and had nothing left in the tank.

To make things worse, there was only one game, South Africa vs. Canada, and I missed it.

Instead, I found myself putting furniture back in its place, looking at the pool through the window, and deciding the air conditioning was a better idea than swimming. Not even skinny dipping. Hey! My house, my rules.

Laziness had quietly taken over.

I’ve been thinking about it since I noticed the change. I racked my brain looking for a seed, anything that could become a creative project, and got nothing.

For the first time in two weeks, I couldn’t find a single idea worth chasing. Not one sentence. Not one scene. Not even a title. Not even a dirty joke!

On the plus side, I used the downtime to read a few more chapters of Respect for Acting by Uta Hagen.

I see concepts that she and Stanislavski have in common. Stanislavski speaks about observing and becoming instead of imitating. Hagen talks about the difference between recreating a feeling, which looks artificial to her, and using an object, not necessarily physical, to bring back the feelings it produced.

Most importantly, Hagen’s book goes very well with strawberry sundae, whereas Stanislavski requires a gourmet approach, with real food and alcohol.

I had signed up for a photo shoot for an advertising campaign for a mall that has several restaurants, and it’s tomorrow.

I’m not going to be behind the camera, writing the script, or directing. But I’ll still be part of somebody else’s artistic project.

Even if it is for an advertising campaign, I’ll get to meet other models (ha! I’m a model) and learn a few things.

And I’ll get paid, which is the ultimate form of acknowledgment and appreciation for what we do.

Not bad for a lazy weekend.

Now, back to my air-conditioned den to hibernate, incubate, and percolate.