In the beginning was the word

...and the word was 'stagnation'. This is what is happening to my mind, and to my creativity. My work as a software engineer is challenging and, to an extent, interesting, but one thing it certainly isn't is stimulating. Large portions of my mind, which I have gone to some considerable length to cultivate, are running to seed. I don't like this. This blog is an attempt to reinvigorate various otherwise-dormant parts of my mind.

Primary among these is creativity. I wrote the libretto for a successful musical comedy Guilds at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which took 9 months of hard work and eventually opened some six years after its inception (this blog takes its name from within this show) and proved to be a truly memorable and cherished event for all ~40 people involved. Since then my creative output has consisted of little more than a few limericks. This blog is an attempt to start writing again; I have a number of ideas and half-ideas kicking around for my next major writing project (which may be anything from a novel to an opera libretto), all of which need further exploration; I will use this blog to explore these ideas in small pieces, in whatever form occurs. If you're really lucky, I may also write other short essays on whatever subject takes my fancy. I am, by nature, a polymath (or 'jack-of-all-trades' if you prefer a more pejorative term) with a wide range of interests, and intend to spout words on any subject which captures my fancy.

I don't seriously expect that a lot of people will read this blog. I hope they do, and I hope they find it as stimulating to read as I hope it will be to write, but ultimately, I write this blog because I need to write something, and that is that. This post is the dullest I intend to write...