Creativity and Collecting

My sister once told me she thought I collected because it was an easy way to release my creativity. Almost as if the hunting, the buying, the storing, and everything in between were a way for me to relieve the pent up creativity that builds up inside me during my boring days in the office.

Until recently, I thought that was a bunch of bunk. I mean, how could buying something be the same as creating something? But now that I’m going through a lull in my collecting, I’m beginning to thing that maybe my sister was on to something. Sure, every collector has some ebb and flow when they pull back from the hobby or go full bore. The thing that’s interesting for me is the fact that the current ebb is running side by side with me writing every night and working with my artist on our Postcards story.

When I get home each night, I don’t think about surfing eBay. I don’t think about scouring the comic sites to see the latest news. Instead, I want to write my own story. I want to create. I haven’t been to eBay since Monday night. That’s almost scary. Think of all those rare books and cards I’m missing. But the weird thing is that it doesn’t even matter. Right now those things aren’t even on the radar. My goals have switched from buying every SP Authentic Packers card to writing and finishing a graphic novel script. And when I’m so focused on one, it’s impossible to even care about the other.

The closer I get to this 30 day cold turkey event, the more I think that it’s not even an issue. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still want to do the reading of the comics I would normally buy, but the collecting of them is no longer a factor. Right now I’d rather read a graphic novel and dissect the reasons for why it works or doesn’t work. Storing a new Captain America? Hunting down an old Favre? Screw it.

Why would I want to buy not only buy someone else’s creation but almost worship its perfection when I can make my own? Think of the collectibility of my own published work…no one else would want to own mint copies, but I sure would. And I could sign as many as I wanted.