Sisyphus and the Stone of Creation
Sisyphus pushing the stone uphill
I originally posted this back on another, now defunct, blog back in 2016. It still rings true, so I’m reposting this on this new blog that I have started to help promote my first book, The Key to Infinity.
Whoever came up with the saying “It is easier to destroy than create.”, was certainly on to something. I believe this saying is meant to be an admonishment of humanity’s penchant for destruction, which I’m not arguing with, but in making the statement it glides too swiftly over the Herculean tasks of creation. It is but an afterthought.
As someone who is trying to engage in creative endeavors, I feel like Sisyphus trying to roll the stone up the mountain. But even Sisyphus has an edge on me. He at least gets a stone up to the top of the mountain and finishes the task, even if he has to begin again the next day. My stone gets about a third of the way up and just sits there.
A perfect example of this is this blog, which I started several months ago with the intent of using as a portfolio of my work. The work that I have (as yet) to create. I have been stranded in the doldrums. The wind is out of my sails. My creative spark is circling the drain somewhere in the Bermuda triangle, languishing in the heat, dehydrated, and on the verge of death. I’ve been sending out search parties to find it, but to no avail. It looks grim.
In trying to rally the troops, I have signed up for a writing class, which hopefully will inspire me to write. It’s a class called Roughing It: Write a Draft of Your Book. It’s modeled somewhat on NaNoWriMo although instead of the month of November we have nine weeks. I’m hoping that being in a class with other actual human beings who are suffering (at least I hope they’re suffering, I don’t want to be alone) with similar obstacles to creation will help motivate me. I’m hoping that peer pressure will get me moving.
However, it is day four and already I am one day behind on my writing count. I’m writing this blog post instead, which is at least a somewhat productive form of procrastination. After I finish this, the idea that I will start working on my daily word count, and try to ignore the persistent voice in my head that is telling me that the cat box needs cleaning…IMMEDIATELY!
I will report my results back here when I am done.
Unless, of course, I don’t…