One of the first red leaves of the season.Now that I am done with my 100 days of creativity challenge, what shall I do?
I won't stop being creative, although I did find that yesterday held a shocking lack of painting, crafting or drawing. Although I did make chicken and come up with a delicious chile-lemon gravy off of the top of my head. I also did some revision and got so caught up in the re reading of a couple chapters of my book that I barely changed a thing. I think that's a good sign. Although there are quite a few chapters that I have to go over again and take care of, I think I'm in a place right now where the story and characters really came to life.
Actually, I should be doing that now, revising, in the hour or so I have to spare before work starts.
Yes, this last 100 days I've learned that I can't wait until I have a whole morning or afternoon free. I have to grab whatever spare time I have in order to do my work.
In the future, will I look back on this time and see how much I grew as an artist and a writer, or will I only see the struggle of trying to fit it all in, manage living and dealing with finances? (That's mostly what I see while I'm in the middle of it.)
What are my goals for the next 6 weeks or so?
My main goal?
FINISH MY NOVEL. Finish that draft. Polish the first few chapters (which need the most help, to be honest) Start looking for an agent.
That is my main goal.
What do you think? Can I let the art slide a little in order to take care of the writing? I feel weird about that, like choosing one child over the other. But then, I suppose I have done it the other way, ignoring the writing for the art. But that's mainly because art for me is an easy going, well mannered child and writing is a VERY difficult child. But that's no reason to neglect her. Actually, the more attention I give my writing child, the better behaved she becomes. (Kind of like real kids, actually.)
I'm not quite sure what I will write on my blog if I spend my time writing instead of making art, because I usually use my art as the impetus for my blog. Honestly, I choose the photo first, then use it as a freewrite, almost. Hey, it works for me.
Well.
I guess I should stop avoiding my difficult child. No I don't mean Ivy. (ha ha)
Back to the novel.
Any suggestions on how to structure my blog if I DON'T use art for my subject matter?
i have loved loved loved your 100 days of creativity! being a mom with a brand new kindergartener and working and having a home and trying to find time for art and creativity and on and on... i have relished your posts! and related too.
ReplyDeletehere are my immediate thoughts on what you shared today, for what it's worth.
your writing is art.
would love to see/have you share your continuing creativity ~ your writing.
thank you for the inspiration!
warmest of wishes and best of luck on the book!!
I think you should just go with the wind, see where your writing takes you. And let people read it in the meantime! Free writing sounds like a good idea to me, except the structure, the container if you like, is your blog, which, if you look at it in this way, means you already have the structure youre looking for!
ReplyDeleteI like the questions you pose at the end of each post. Always gets me thinking.
Best of luck on all you do
Khairun
I am in such a similar situation! I haven't touched my novel in months, even though it only needs a little more work to be done. I justify ignoring it by looking at all the art I am making these days. Should I just be happy being productive in one area? Or do I need to use some discipline and get back to the novel?
ReplyDeleteJul, I think one of the things about writing novels is that they are large, hard and scary, and so it is really easy to let other things get in the way. We have to be brave to finish them. Do we want to? Is it important enough to us, is the question. For me the answer is yes. Very much so. What is the answer for you?
ReplyDelete