Author: Melodie Turori

There comes a point in every creative project where you hit the proverbial wall. It might be writer’s block, designer’s block, or an unexpected problem. When you hit the road block you have a couple of choices. You could continue to fight until you break through the barrier. Or you could try hitting the pause button for a while instead.

One of the projects I’m currently developing is a feature-length documentary film that I’ve been calling The Quilting Thing (no, that’s not even a working title). In the early stages it was all research. Everything was zipping along with positivity and sunshine. However, when it came time to turn research into a treatment and a business plan, the storm arrived.

Every time I looked through my notes my frustration increased. It looked like a mess of information that went in ten directions with no connecting threads weaving everything together. Nothing to serve as a foundation for the story. No story? No film.

I’ve watched this video from Kid President several times since I first saw the link on Friday. I love it for many reasons. It’s well constructed, the music selection is solid, Kid President’s delivery is magic, et cetera, et cetera. However, the thing that keeps me coming back is the message.

“What will you create that will make the world awesome? Nothin’ if you keep sitting there.”

One of the most difficult parts of Creating Things™ is releasing the thing into the wild. Sure, you could keep the thing all to yourself, where it’s safe. But that defeats the purpose of you creating the thing in the first place. Creation is meant to be shared.

Usually when inspiration strikes, it only offers a small part of what a project could become. As you work and create, you collect more pieces until you have fully formed project. But sometimes, inspiration gives you the whole vision in one glimpse, leaving the details to be filled in later. I had one of those visions when I returned home from spending Thanksgiving with my family.

While I was gone, my roommate made a beautiful Christmas wreath. As soon as I saw the wreath on the front door I knew how we were going to decorate our apartment this year.

Whoville.

A few weeks ago I came across this blog post by Amy Ratcliffe, all about the nerdy shoe crafting party she threw with some friends. The shoes they created had me drooling with shoe envy. I knew I had to try my hand at making something nifty for the many miles of walking at Comic Con.

Want to paint your own pair of geektastic shoes? The list of links I used to research and draw inspiration are at the bottom of this post.