You can never wait for the perfect conditions to create

because if you do you wait for ever. I can count on my fingers the number of times I've created something and it seemed divinely inspired by the muse. If I waited for the perfect moment I'd have done about 3 haikus, some needlework, a lot of knitting in the past 12 years. Instead of waiting for the gentle breeze, the hand of the muse and the twittering of birds (in the words of creativity writer SARK) I've got stuck in mostly when I'd promised something which I then wanted to get out of but I went on and did it anyway. The result, I've written poetry, been published, made 5 films, written a half dozen others, worked on umpteen films in other capacities, written articles, made blogs and websites, knitted 12 blankets, taken 1000 plus photos, journalled (a small forrest of trees have been felled), drawn and painted, collaged, learned to use super8.

So what I say to you is that if you have ever had a thought flit across your mind about trying ... oh basket weaving go out now find a book or a class and start. As for all of you who ever wanted to write a novel find a pencil and some paper becuase National Novel Writing Month is about to gear up. No excuses now this is your chance to write a short novel (175 pages) in the company of others around the globe. Do it. Allow yourself to create anyway. It doesn't matter if it sucks - get the words down and you can fix it later.