• are you acc, i am?

Found myself spending too much time on Facebook: responding to this request and that..and, oh yeah I have to take the Which brand of motor oil are you? Quiz. (I'm a quart high. Ha!)

Actually I gave up taking ALL silly Facebook (and other online) surveys several months ago. (I do not care what my IQ is, this week.) Those surveys are not informative, and (for me) not even a little bit fun. I'd rather watch one of my Best of Rocky & Bullwinkle DVD's.

or...have a wisdom tooth removed without Novocaine.

In college I forced myself to develop the ability of NOT answering the phone just because it was ringing. "HEY, HEY, HEY, ANSWER ME...NOW!"

I do the same now with my iPhone—always on, always with me. Fortunately, I have scores of friends, and other important contacts in my cell so I can see who is calling. With friends, I answer the phone 97.2591% of the time when I see their name. Now and then, I am engaged in an activity that is worth staying focused on and calling my friend back.

Focus is important to the creative life. Especially for those of us who are "ACC." I suspect you are ACC, too. That's why you make frequent visits here to Tea Blog. If this is your first visit, it's because a friend has directed you here. (They know that you, too, are ACC—and might enjoy a cup of inspiration.)

Being ACC—an Actively Creative Character—your mind is constantly imagining new routes to a familiar destination, a new ingredient to add to your morning smoothie, a different way to answer the phone on your recorded greeting, a new custom iPod Playlist:  "S.I.U.T.L.A.H.L.T.I.A.L.T." (Songs I Used To Love And Haven't Listened To In A Long Time), or . . .

We are all busy. Everyone. My question is, "Are we making good creative use of our time?" Not every minute, but when we can. I believe we can find more places and spaces to exercise our Actively Creative Character-istics.

• I never leave home without my sketchbook-even on an 11 pm trip to the market. I have a mini backup sketchbook—right. (Click to enlarge any photo) I keep it in the outside pocket of my computer bag.  Mostly, it serves as a 2DO list book, but also for doodling and imagining "out loud" while waiting in line—any line—and "on hold."

• As good as the camera in my iPhone is (left), I carry an actual camera (palm size), in my computer case, to grab a hi-rez picture now and then. You will never come back and take a photo of an interesting place you discover, because you will forget what it is was and where it is. You DO have time to take the photo now, because you no longer waste time with Facebook surveys.

• In the front of every one of my 140+ sketchbooks I continue to write a sentence I came up with for the sketchbooks I was required to carry as a freshman at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design (in the late 1800's.) Here's a photo (right) of that sentence in my current always-with-me sketchbook.

• *** What are you doing to feed your Actively Creative Character? What creative habits have you developed to maximize the little moments or manage the 24 clock to make more room for your imagination to be present and alive in your daily life? Leave your tips, tricks, and helpful hints that the rest of us can emulate and be inspired by in our quest for richer, fuller, more remarkable lives. (Leave them in the Comments section below this blog post. Thanx.)

* * To cut down on the endless work of maintaining my personal Facebook page (C. McNair Wilson) I launched—at the suggestion of several "friends"—one of Facebook's now-famous "fan" pages:

McNair Wilson International Fan Club & Dry Cleaning

As much as I appreciate many of you who have sent your friends my way (on Facebook), I don't know these fine folks. My new "Dry Cleaning" Face-site is a way for anyone to be connect with all things McNair, but with far fewer ringing phones to answer ("Confirmations" to respond to.) I will always welcome long time friends to the personal page when we reconnect online, but anyone can join the new "Fan Club" site, anytime—we never close.

As of January of this year (2010) I am back to my wonderful life of traveling, speaking, teaching, consulting and coaching (speakers, authors, and others who talk-out-loud-in-public.) Thus, t  he fan site has grown at a surprising rate. Stop by, jump in, return ffffrequently.

Try the Puerh...and an almond cookie.

Pith helmet, optional.

Yours curiously,

Col. Bullmoose McNair

Comments

[Brock S. Henning]

Well McNair, you said it. I came, I read, I commented...I must be ACC. Here are few items you might find in my carry bag:

- iPhone: for taking notes, pictures, and recording sounds ranging from restaurants to city markets to meetings to chirping birds to my children's laughter. Some of the pictures and sound clips may find their way into future story scene descriptions.

- notepads: one for writing ideas, one for works-in-progress, one for my personal diary.

- books: various subjects such as poetry, writing resources, the Bible.

- conference rooms: okay, I don't carry a conference room in my carry bag (although the dust bunnies are known to hold meetings inside; maybe that's the "real" rabbit hole!), but I utilize conference rooms at my day job for taking short breaks. I do this to clear my mind of "day job" responsibilities (things I care less about) and focus on story ideas (things I care more about), or I just sit and breathe. I find this relieves the creativity-thieving stress of each day.

[Tina Parker]

Note to self:

Get a bigger purse.

~ I always carry my camera (you should have seen the poor guy at Verizon when I said I wanted a phone to talk on — not text, not take pictures, not surf the web. Bless his heart, he waited until I was out of the store before laughing or crying.

~ I am on the lookout for my handheld tape recorder. Some of us ACC folks need to think out loud before we forget what we wanted to say. I loaned mine out. Big mistake.

~ Fountain pen. They just allow me to write/think better.

~ Some sort of reading material. I'm working on reading printed material as opposed to the virtual stuff. Well, as soon as I get off here, anyway.

Thanks for reminding me that creativity — my creativity — needs to be fed every day. I see a day of photography tomorrow.

[mcnair wilson]

Tina & Brock: Welcome to ACC World. I always knew you lived in the neighborhood of the Actively Creative. You words inspired me and I am certain others will be equally poked! Onward & upward.

[mcnair wilson]

P.S. TINA, Fountain pens ABSOTIVELY make you (me...everyone) think better. And it improves my already-remarkable penmanship.

[In a recent survey 12 out of 10 high school seniors thought "penmanship" was one of Columbus's boats.]

[LaureeAshcom]

tears are falling because i have let others overwhelm me so much that i have seen my acc as a luxury instead of the absolute necessity that it is.....

my fountain pen has been my only hold on sanity. i am now putting my ring of 3x5 cards back in my purse... just in case.

[Chris Schechner]

I had a very brilliant comment and lost it due to the magic of technology. I'll retype it. First, through your influence, I have written the same sentence as you in the front of my sketchbooks for years. Second, I find it hard to draw on the run, mainly because I'm not on the run, but also because I have to have accoutrement to just hold the pen. Then I realized that I can use a big, fat Sharpie without using my splint. It won't look like a finished drawing, but I'm getting my ideas down. Thirdly, I have made a pact to draw every day. And lastly, I find that when I send out mail, an envelope is a great place to put a cartoon, so whoever I'm sending mail to, I draw a cartoon on the envelope. I figure people at the IRS or the electric company must have a sense of humor. And if they don't, at least the letter carrier gets a laugh.

[Jennifer Lindsay]

Fountain pens are a must! I never leave home without mine (nor my moleskin notebook). I also write everything by hand first, less chance of the internal editor taking control that way. When it's time for me to be actively creative, I turn off the overhead light, light candles, and use white Christmas lights strung on a fake palm tree to illuminate my writing. Something about the low, flickering light just makes me feel like I've entered a magical realm free of everyday distractions. And I always make time to daydream throughout the day. :)

[Rob]

I AM ACC TOO!!!!

[Kim Ykema]

Sara Groves wrote a song that tells my story well, "I just showed up for my own life/And I'm standing here taking it in and it sure looks bright/Oh the glory of God is man fully alive." It makes me dance, inside and out. This blog makes me dance, too. Borrowing from Sara again, "I'm going to live my life inspired/Look for the holy in the common place/Open the windows and feel all that's honest and real until I'm truly amazed." Yes, I'm an ACC who's been safely but stagnantly tucked away in a red-velvet-lined room but I'm coming out to be who I truly am. The tips from this blog and all the comments will help me on my journey, so THANK YOU, McNair, for creating this cyber-family. I'm grateful to be part of it.

[ramona]

Hello, I'm Ramona, and I'm ACC...

Love the phone comment. I had a boss who taught me that I don't have to answer it, and it's FREEING and FOCUSING. Also, it works well for bill collectors and it's fun to watch my sales rep friends squirm when I won't answer it. One lady offered to get it for me, and I made a friend for life when I said, "No, I'm talking to you. They can wait."

Camera is a must (I once got a shot of a toy Tonka truck strapped as the only cargo on a flatbed 18-wheeler and a cat hanging upside down from a honeysuckle vine). Notebook...Check. I also get really cranky if I haven't been creative. My friends have even learned the signs and have been to stop me mid-gripe to say, "Girl, go write something before we slap you upside the head."

[Brian]

I carry my iPhone with me everywhere and am not afraid to let it go to voicemail. A sketchbook is with me 90% of the time- I often draw during class something completely off subject (the dean and campus director have walked in while I'm sketching during accounting). My digital voice recorder always stays with me, even next to me when I sleep in case of ideas to write about or draw.

[Elizabeth]

I felt ACC this week. Actually Cranky Critical-mastastic! What a crazy week! My creativity was stretched beyond belief. I had grants to write that are so important to our budget. I tried to go through the week being methodical about the steps I needed to take and we started a new afterschool program this past week, as well. We had the Southwest Youth Councils this weekend and Captain Bill went with our delegation. Sorry! Still called Youth Councils! (Ha-Ha) Then it was Palm Sunday and feeding people in the park following the service. I was just overwhelmed this week and I feel like the demands of everything limited the flow of creativity. I can't wait to take the day off tomorrow.

I expect that this week will be better. Our annual dinner is coming up and I am putting together our annual report. I need to be creative and imaginative so that it truly represents the modernization of a mission that has not changed. I am looking forward to the work-week and the creative process waiting to unfold. Blessings.

[vibram five fingers]

Good post, I will mention it on my blog.. Cheers

[Marney Makridakis]

Beautiful post, I *totally* get it, and applaud you for embodying ACC and opening this dialogue!

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