A Change of Direction

For an entire year I've been working on a little piece of animated anarchy that I am happy to see finally deposited on Youtube. While it didn't actually take me an entire year to do the animation, it took me an entire year to reach the point where it was animated. I had to buy a new computer. I had to learn several new programs. I had to write scripts, cast parts, record voices, shoot live footage, shoot green screen footage, and a host of other technical things, all so that I could take a thing out of my mind and bring it to reality on Youtube. It may not be Pixar, but I'm pretty happy with the results.

But I had a clear deadline of May 1st for a reason. I need to change direction now. While I'll still be animating the rest of the 11 episodes of my series, the hard work of figuring out how to do it is done. The rest is just going through the paces and using my creativity to do the work. My focus must change now to two new challenges - one immediate and the other pressing, but with a little more breathing room.

I have a sermon to deliver on Pentecost Sunday and I've been letting my mind mull over the topic even as I have been praying without ceasing about the challenges of preaching. God is definitely leading me on a path, but I keep stopping every time I find a pretty view (expecting it to suddenly dawn on me where it is that I am going). I know that I will reach the end of the path and will have plenty of time to write the sermon, I just kind of wish to have it done sooner rather than later.

I'm also actively starting to put together my story and my script for my Folk Music documentary. For longer than I've been alive, my Dad has been associated with a group of people that were either in his Folk Music group in the 1950's or were associated with his group. They get together annually to sing and share stories in a Hootenany that has been ongoing for at least 30 years now. Though none of them ever had the kind of fame that is reserved for the lucky recording artists, they were in and around all the groups that did have that kind of fame. They played in the same clubs, borrowed music from the same sources, and even, on occasion, sang together. So, collectively, they have a fascinating insight into a period of American music that is rarely discussed or talked about (with the exception of the excellent A Mighty Wind). Of course, at its heart my documentary has to be about the music and the friendships that have kept them together for 50 plus years. Right now, I'm mulling over the best way to tell that story.

So... my hands are busy animating. My mind is busy documenting. And my heart and soul are busy walking down a path of God-led discovery. If there is any other part of me not otherwise occupied, I hope it finds a nice hot tub to soak in until it's needed.