It was in 1999 when Dan, a friend of mine, asked me why I didn’t do any creative stuff for the previous few years. I believe “no time” was my initial answer, but he kept prodding and digging.

I admitted to a few half finished projects, both prose and illustrations and my problem was that I thought I was scatterbrained – unable to focus on one project and finish it. I would start a creative endeavor with the utmost vigor and commitment, but then, quite suddenly, I couldn’t move any further, and what made me even more perplexed; I don’t recall having this problem as a youth.

That’s when Dan confessed being a huge Beatles fan. Confused, I asked, “The Beatles?”

I’ve always liked the music and songs of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Star (for you youngsters who don’t know), but I couldn’t understand the relevance. He told me that when the Beatles wrote their songs and they experienced “writer’s block” or as I call it “a creative blockage,” typically due to outside influences to the creative process, they would quit, put that song aside, and work on a different one. This way, he said, they would always be progressing and not regressing.

Thanks Dan (Paul, John, George & Ringo) for a prolific 21st Century.