For those of you who know me really well - and even those of you who maybe are just learning about me - you'll know or will find out that I am a creative soul. I love to create, whether it is with words, sound, a pencil upon a piece of paper...or even a camera, some 35mm film, a dark room with the right equipment and a whole lot of photo paper! My dear, darling best friend fo' sho' Shani (<3!!) especially knows that I've always had a fondness for words, especially (music coming in a close second). In fact, we were talking just the other night about the things her and I have created together, born of a mutual love for certain things and a shared penchant for hilarity.

(You know what I'm talking about, buddy of mine. And don't worry - since you're mentioned in this here dA Virgin Journal Entry, I'mma tag you like you've never been tagged before!)

That was many years ago. We were but wee little teenyboppers, just barely coming into our own. But as we grew older our writing evolved. Shani has some dear written words that are close to my heart, just as she is. I took up the love of FanFiction - because at that point I still was not confident in myself to come up with a plot and characters of my own. It was good practice, and good fun, and surprisingly I turned out a couple of pretty decent pieces. Next came little bits of original fiction, and not all of it was terrible.

I hit a slump. And then a couple of years later, I was introduced to a new group of friends in a new school and a new life...and we started something beautiful. A ginormous collaboration that was at once irritating but earth-shatteringly dear to my heart. Thus was born my first Original Character: she is the basis for many of my following characters, because this One is my baby, my brainchild and I love her like nothing else I have created.

The collaboration broke down. Now it is just two of us who attempt to keep it going...we hope to be published, one day. However, I have been hit with the Writer's Block Curse of DOOM...for the past couple of years, maybe a little less. My creative output has hit rock bottom since then. I have no outlet for one of the things that is a large part of who I think I am. I have always been able to write as long as I've had another conduit to pour myself into, to nurture my poor little imagination. I've never been good at visual art (although I am picking it up again, as of just recently), and while my music has always been a factor...it is damned difficult to find a decent choir around here and it really pisses me off. It's not the same to sing along with the radio, when you've experienced the bliss that is adding your voice to 68 others and invoking something that is damn near magical.

This extended slump has been TERRIBLE. I've felt like I'm trapped, like there is something inside of me trying in vain to escape. That creative spark - a gift that to me is almost divine - has died down into a mere ember, and I've been fanning it with everything I've got to keep it from going out completely.

Recently, a friend talked me into giving the Role Play scene in World of Warcraft a try, seeing as I am a creative sort of individual and already play the game anyways. It was scary, at first...not something I'm used to. But as I swallow my fear and put myself out there, to make new friends and create something, I feel a little lighter. Like that weight on my shoulders has been lifted just the tiniest bit. That spark, that little dying ember of my creative passions, has received a breath of fresh air. It is slowly beginning to burn again.

Long story short: my neglected dA account shall be put to good use! I hope. I'll try. ^_^