I am a firm believer in the idea that creative people must constantly refill their personal wells of inspiration in order to stay fresh in their work. I find this to be particularly true since I make a living as a writer. I spend almost all day, almost every day, writing for work. In order to avoid recycling the same ideas again and again, I work to engage myself in activities and projects that will broaden my creative experience.
One of this year’s projects is what I call “the neighborhood project”. The idea is that I’ll explore all there is to see in each of the different neighborhoods of San Francisco, taking them one month at a time. Because I made a move in January to begin working part-time in Berkeley, I decided that I’d choose that city for exploration in the month of January (as opposed to a neighborhood actually in San Francisco). It was difficult to do all that I wanted to in this first month because I didn’t make the move until halfway through the month. However, I did manage to experience some neat things which helped to inspire me in different ways.
Here are some of the things that Berkeley month did for me:
- I learned about some of the hiking areas in and around Berkeley. The only one that I have been able to check out extensively so far is Lake Chabot over in Oakland. The hiking that I did there gave me a renewed apprecation of the vast amount of nature that lies around the city. It also got me thinking about the way that places get their names (Lake Chabot is named after Anthony Chabot, as are many other things in this area). I’m not yet sure how that’s going to work it’s way into my writing but I hope that it does.
- I discovered Berkeley street poet Julia Vinograd. This got me reading poetry again which is something that I find really helps me get centered. There’s a simplification of words there that doesn’t happen in the other stuff that I read regularly, even blogs.
- I started to find the coffee shops, book stores, clothing stores and odds-and-ends shops that I hope will be places that I can go for self-expression over the next several months.
- I discovered the art museum associated with the college and put it on my list of things to visit in the next month. Also on this list I’ve put seeing a dance performance at Ashkenaz, music at Freight & Salvage, and theater at the Berkeley Repertory Theater. These are things that I hope will be ongoing sources of inspiration.
Because Berkeley is going to be a place that I’m going to be spending a lot of time, I was more focused on doing research for future sources of inspiration than really experiencing the creative moments available to me here right now. That sense of excitement about stuff that’s to come is, in itself, a great source of inspiration. I feel excited to see where I am which I think provides a great perspective for taking a new approach to work.
Tomorrow kicks off Chinatown month … who knows what I’ll discover in that famous San Francisco neighborhood?!
Question of the Day: Can you share something about Berkeley with me that I haven’t learned yet?
[Tags] berkeley, inspiration, writing, projects, creative, vinograd, chabot [/Tags]
Leave a Comment