Distraction

This handmade paper postcard caught my eye in Formé Millinery, famous for serving up high-fashion hats for the Kentucky Derby.

Distraction, you are my favorite.

It spoke to me. It followed me home and said, “Whoooo? Youuuuu? Wriiiiiite? Nooooo…make hats.”

So far, I haven’t listened. But I’ve given myself a mini-creativity retreat for the next few days. Even if I don’t work on any of my many hat projects, Wise Fedora Owl reminds me that yep, distraction is my favorite pastime.

I’ve just finished quite a large chunk of writing and editing articles for the upcoming Douglas Adams issue of The Drink Tank. It’s been grueling because I had to open my photo library and find images for the interviews and essays. You know the distraction haunting my photo library, don’t you?

Pictures of Olieo Dog.
Cue avoidance.
Cue sobbing.
Cue grief.

Having coerced and bullied myself to finish the work with tears running down my cheeks, I’ve come up with a new term. Derived from work at the UC system, particularly the Chancellor’s office, it’s based on Discretionary Fund: The bit of extra money not earmarked for anything else, that some group or other is always petitioning the Chancellor to be able to use.

The term is Distractionary Fund, and I want to make good use of it. A certain allocation of time when I’m permitted to be as thoroughly distracted by one thing after another as I can stand. For a day, or maybe days. However long I need. A budget of distractionary funding to invest in working things out in a positive way.

I am still very much in a grieving place and grief is the ultimate distraction. But I don’t want to spend my distractionary funds on reels or Netflix. I want to spend it with my papers, pens, glue gun, scissors, and sewing machine. Distractionary Fund. You are my favorite.