Cat Rocketship • The secret to the last of my blocks is: hoarding

The secret to the last of my blocks is: hoarding

Creative block. Writer’s block. Blocks get a lot of attention, but they all have the same root: fear. The fear of starting is a block. The fear of completing something is a block. Waiting for the perfect idea is a block. Blocks are anxieties people have during the process of drawing or writing or building, and the anxiety is the main thing people battle in our creative process.

After I got through the block of not knowing where to start and then the block of not knowing what to draw and then the block of being afraid of sucking, my resourceful subconscious found a new block in the anxiety of running out.

I’m super particular about my materials. Paper has to be right. And pens, and even my drawing position. I like to be able to nest, and I like my nest to offer all the comforts I need.

So, I’ve got my Mead Notebook and my Paper Mate Flair Felt Tip Pens in medium point and I’ve nested on the basement couch with a pop and some pizza and I’m good to go, right?

NO. Because what if I use this Paper Mate Flair Felt Tip Pen in medium point to doodle something useless and then I have a great idea and my marker runs out?! THEN I’ll be up shit creek!

And so I hoard.

I’ve learned that if I find a supply I like, I should just go ahead and order myself a big box. And that anxiety is gone.

So I’ve got

100 Stanley utility blades

Five Prismacolor cold gray 60% markers

A dozen Paper Mate Black Medium Flairs — and also a dozen in Ultra Fine

My Mead 6x9 inch writing tablets

A dozen Bic Mark-its — just as black as Sharpies, but cheaper, with a nicer point, and seem to draw farther

An several dozen binder clips.

Somewhere along the way I also accumulated a giant bottle of Sumi Ink and a whole mess of capsule pencils with those little plastic pencilly bits you use up.

Anyway, now that I have my hoard, I’m pretty good, creative-block-wise.