WRITING LIFE

Living the life of a writer can be both wonderful and frustrating, especially if most of your day is taken by a full time job. When you add to that, family, friends, and a slew of other hobbies finding time to write can be a marathon strength challenge. 

 For me I wake at 4:15 in order to squeeze in twenty minutes of writing morning pages as per Julia Cameron's Artist's Way tools. It just three pages of rambling that occasionally results in a breakthrough for some indecision or a snag in a plot turn or poem idea. When I feel that morning pages are a waste of my precious time to write I will use those twenty minutes to create a new poem or two or perhaps outline a short story or map out a new chapter, depending on which of my many writing projects is occupying my mind at the moment.

 Getting home by 5:00 or later, working out, showering, having dinner, reading a little and then falling into bed exhausted keep me from the writing desk.



But novels, memoir, short stories and poems do not get written if I don't get to my writing space. And paintings, art journals and mixed media art do not get created if I don't get there either. I use this desk for both writing and art so it might be graced with a binder and a spiral notebook  while writing a new short story, or might be graced with an art journal, jars of craft paint, brushed, pens, and patterned paper when working on an art project. I never know and sometimes even am surprised at what I find when I get there in the morning.

Planning is crucial. I need to know on my way home from work what I will be writing or painting when I get home so I can muster the energy to get to the desk, no matter how tired I am. And I know I can do it. There are many blank pages and clear canvases awaiting the creative ideas that ricochet in my brain on an hourly basis.

My mind is a scary place, but for me it works. 

And so onward toward home and straight to the desk. Let's see what awaits.



Comments

  1. NoneAugust 31, 2014 at 2:11 PM

    I love hearing you explain your process. .your every day life as a poet and artist. I'm very lucky to have you as a friend. Hugs Deb

    ReplyDelete

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