Wallpapery Goodness ...

So, long time ... no update, eh?  Well, things have been busy.  Writer's Block still has a firm grasp on my muse, so I'm temporarily suffering from brain freeze in the writing department.  It's horribly frustrating, but I'm trying to look on the bright side of things.

I'm telling myself it's just temporary.  Please, please, please just let it be temporary.  I think it's just a factor of a lot of interferences in my thought process coming together to freeze creative thought out of my brain.  A sort of "real life" squeeze play, if you will.  Still, it's scary. Each time it happens to me ... and, it happens --- let's face it ... being stumped at times is part of the creative process --- I'm terrified that this is it ... the end ... the last time I'll ever be able to write creatively or express myself through a work of fiction ... finito ... curtains ... whatever you want to call it.  And, that thought scares the hell out of me.  Seriously, it makes my blood run cold.  Writing is important to me.  I gave it up once --- for almost seven years --- and I just don't want to do it again.  I don't think I can do that again.  So, what would it mean if I couldn't write ... if the "block" wasn't really a "block", but a cessation of thought, a loss of ability?  It's a funny thing, though.  The more you think about writer's block, the worse it becomes ... like, it's caused by stress and obsessing over it just magnifies that stress and makes everything worse.  But, when you're stuck in the throes of it ... it seems like all you can do is obsess over it.  It's a vicious, vicious circle.  A dog chasing its tail.  A hamster on a wheel.  Whatever ...

Anyhow ... enough of the petty whining.  Back to those positives ... the silver lining behind my black thunderhead of doom.

Well, the creative urge hasn't completely fled.  Muse is just resting ... not dead.  So, I've managed to channel my frustrated energy into completing a bunch of housekeeping-type tasks that have, thus far, gotten lost in the fury of creativity I was pouring into my writing until just recently.  So ... scanned in some really great, beautiful artwork from my most recent Gravitation manga purchases, including a really choice pic of Hiro on his motorcycle.  Yay!  I just love that Hiro!  Anyhow ... I digress.  I also finally got my Ranma 1/2 artbook scans done, as well as one of my Inu Yasha illustration books and some terrific artwork from some of the Saiyuki DVDs.  And, the pay off --- you guessed it!  Wallpapery Goodness!!!  So far, my battle with the demons of writer's block has yielded 3 new Saiyuki papers, 5 new Ranma papers, 2 new Gravitation papers, 1 new Inu Yasha paper, and 1 new Weiss paper.  Not too shabby for a washed-up, has-been writer, if I do say so myself.

All in all ... even given Muse's damned inconvenient temporary hibernation, I'm feeling pretty good about things...