Creative North

I suppose it was inevitable - if you start a blog, you end up writing at least a few entries that start with an apology for how long it's been since the last time you blogged. But, really, my blog (and website for that matter) are still in their infancy, so at least I only need to apologize to a relatively small group of people.

So, sorry it's been so long since I...you get the idea.

As I write this, I'm sitting in Key West, Florida - a very odd place from what I've seen. Sort of an odd mix of nature and white trash and gays and alcohol and palm trees and birds that sound like owls but, apparently, are not. You see why that isn't their tourism slogan, but it's pretty accurate. By the way, if you didn't know - and there's not real reason you should - Key West is home to the southernmost point in the continental United States. A location that is marked with a large...painted...thing:

So, upon arriving last night, I dutifully went there and took some pictures, squinted my eyes to see if I could see Cuba (no way in hell) and then made my way, well, north. It may seem a bit of a leap (or perhaps just overly poetic) that, as I walked, I started thinking about something I've often believed in and which I've termed the Creative Compass. Simply put, the Creative Compass (or CC) is the internal sense I try to maintain when I'm writing - a show, a song, a lyric, etc.

Tricky part about the CC is that, unlike a normal compass, North on the CC can sometimes move - and, sometimes, that is a good thing. The tricky part is figuring out when that movement is true and right and when it is a symptom of losing your direction - whether through inside or outside sources.

Believe me, there are many good reasons that things change - as you write, a show or a song or a character morphs naturally and clinging to an "old" version of any of those things can ultimately hurt the show. But so can moving to a "new" version for the wrong reason. North on the CC can't be determined by outside factors...but it also can be.

Kind of a pain, right? At least when I walked north from the southernmost point last night, I knew where I was going - of course, thousands and thousands of people had walked that path before so it was pretty easy.

I suppose finding a new path is always more of a challenge - and, generally, much, much more worth it. Long live the Creative Compass! Here ends the reading for today.