It would be hard for me to say I had any revelations after a day without media. I would admit that I probably chose the wrong day for the fast (a day on which I had a bus ride to Boston and back – about 8 hours total), and I would say that my coloring of the fast has more to do with my own mental state than with my actual experience. That is to say that I absolutely crashed on Friday night, and on Saturday throughout the day I just felt bad. There is really no other way to put it. I had a persistent headache that didn’t allow me to sleep, which compounded the next day on the bus ride. I convinced myself I would be able to do homework on the bus, but found myself carsick two minutes in. I spent the remainder of the trip trying to fall asleep while silently cursing the loud group of people behind me (I think that more than anything I was jealous of them because they were having so much fun). With cramped legs and no distraction for my mind, I tried to place my mind elsewhere, to engage in the creative process I tend to fall back on, but to no avail.

Ironically, as soon as my fast was over – in time for the majority of the ride home – and I put my headphones in to listen to music, two things happened. First, I began talking to the person I was sitting next to. We are friends and hallmates, but for whatever reason the bus ride to Boston had been mostly silent. Second, my creative energy began flowing again. New story ideas began to flow out of the music and through my mind, splashing against my previously blank canvas of imagination in vivid colors. And then, finally, with music in my ears, I was able to sleep.

I don’t think it wise to draw too many conclusions from my rather painful day, precisely because I was in no state for unbiased observation. I would say one thing: Creativity requires stimulus, some kind of spark to get it started. For me, the noisy interior of the bus and the red of the passing autumn leaves was not enough. I needed the rhythm and rhyme of music to start the spark again.

On an unrelated note, I got my first rejection letter from an agent today. I guess they took “How to Make a Bad Day Worse 101.” Oh well. Time to put the triple-P approach of my high school Calc teacher into action: Persistence, Patience, and Perseverance.

-epn