If I could just download the story straight out of my head…
Ran into a friend at work yesterday who said he’d dropped by my blog and I hadn’t posted anything for a while. He was quite right. I must admit to juggling too many balls in the air.
I think as adults we have to be responsible, hold down a job, pay the bills, look after elderly relatives, give emotional and financial support to children who are just branching out into adult life and, quite rightly, this is just what grown ups do. In between all this I’ve been trying to squeeze in working on a writing project just for myself, for fun.
Writing is a creative process that requires a lot of hard slog. There’s the actual hours spent at a computer, which is really bad for your health. Then there’s the challenge of pulling a story out of the subconscious while all around you things are clamoring for attention and the challenge of holding all the threads of a narrative in your head while doing the washing, dashing to the shops, writing lectures, marking assignments and sorting out family dramas etc.
I’d been meeting this challenge while writing to deadline for four years now, so I gave myself permission to take a step back and write for the love of it. I felt I needed something fresh, set in a new world with new characters and challenges.
It’s a bit like taking an adventure holiday with a new group of friends.* Creativity should be fun.
So that’s what I’ve been doing.
What do you do to give yourself a mental break and have some fun?
* I promise I will get back to KRK and the OC. I have plans for those characters.
