An Inhale and An Exhale

On the final days of August.

Welcome to the weekend edition Creative Fuel! These weekend missives are for creative inspiration, sometimes through prompts, sometimes through other means. Paid subscribers have full access to the archive of weekend prompts + inspiration.

It’s the last weekend in August.

Autumn Equinox isn’t until later in September, which means that technically we have several weeks of summer left—we don’t have to say goodbye quite yet. But we all know that the end of this current month feels like the final chapter of the season.

Whatever happened in the preceding summer days will now come to a close.

Whatever expectations of how our summer days would go are tabled until next year.

Whatever intensity that summer has brought, we hope the cool air of fall will push it away.

Whatever dreams and desires that hung in the summer air might simply evaporate, or hopefully they’ll take new forms, imbued with their summer energy and ready for the next phase.

August exits stage left. We move on.

Sommernatt. Havfrue, Edvard Munch. Via Munch Museet

Last August I spent most of the month away from home, and this year has been the same. For adventure, yes, but also because it’s easier to take a proper break when your desk isn’t nearby, when the studio isn’t calling.

These stints away from home have meant that August has become a month of “taking in” for me. In other words, not one of production, but of opening up and being receptive to all the colors, sounds, and imprints that the world offers up.

This is incredibly essential to the creative process. I always think of The Oatmeal comic about creativity being like breathing.