TIME FLIER

Last week I spent two days in an all-day calligraphy workshop and another day celebrating the last Giants baseball game of the year. The Giants weren't so giant this year. Due to injuries, the team fielded a group of rookies who faced the Dodgers, their longtime rivals, who are a powerhouse of baseball pros. The rookies thrilled us by keeping the last three games close, often almost winning, while giving us a chance to see the rookies test their limits and chances for next year. I remember reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's book, "Wait Till Next Year," a memoir of her family's love of baseball, which included those two baseball rivals that we watched, who were at the time of the book both based in New York. I could relate to her story because my dad let us watch baseball games on TV, and set up a makeshift diamond in our backyard. It was easy there to hit one out of the park since the balls went into our close neighbor's yard.

Bill and I share a love of the game, and we think of all the phrases that come up in casual speech that originated with baseball:

Cover your bases

Throw someone a curve ball

Step up to the plate and

A whole new ball game

After the workshop and the baseball game, I came home to my worktable. And stared. Somehow the area had become completely covered in my absence as if three thousand little minions had scrambled my work-in-progress all over the tabletop. How could missing just three days of attention let things go so array? Yesterday afternoon, while I was still feeling the creative inspiration from the workshop, I plopped my art journal on top of the stack of papers and precariously worked on a page, the paper tipping towards the floor as I put pen to paper. I didn't bother to unload what was under the journal, instead, I just kept working till I got to the bottom of the journal page when that workshop-inspired creative juice ran out, leaving me feeling doubt creeping in. The last small rectangle didn't work the way I wanted, so I will cut out a piece of paper and glue over it.

I don't usually get writer's block, the mental stoppage that prevents both writers and artists from moving ahead with whatever they are working on. Both types of creatives can stare at a blank white paper in front of them. I tend towards the opposite direction with too many ideas rushing out at once so that I find it hard to finish any one thing. If I do get stuck, I pull out my sketchbook and start doodling, something I have done all my life through meetings, classes, and waiting times. Usually, those random doodles help me get past any doubts and re-awaken inspiration. I don't have to "wait till next year" to step up to the plate. It gives me a chance at a whole new ballgame.

My normal workspace

Check out the A to Z  baseball idioms list from Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_English-language_idioms_derived_from_baseball 

Yes, I still use Wikipedia. Another one of my small rebellions, like choosing Lyft over Waymo, the driverless cars. I don't plan to use then until all cars are driverless and people aren't depending on ride share driving to earn a living. Wikipedia is produced by human information, and, unlike AI, isn't snatching the work of artists and writers without compensation.