Ironically enough, I started the draft of this blog about real-life’s impact on creative work on December 6th, 2023, little knowing what the rest of the month would hold. Sure, I knew I was going on vacation. And then there’d be holidays. But, boy, did events conspire…. Anyway, here’s a few naïve thoughts from past me.
Creative Plans and Real-Life Detours
Sometimes (often? always?) life doesn’t go according to plan. For example, demands on our time, money, and energy intrude, and we react to the threat to our precious resources. Perhaps we resent it or get angry. Or depressed. None of that is particularly helpful or productive, but acknowledgement is a necessary stage.
Feeling Real-Life Feelings
Today, I’m reminding myself to feel my feelings. At the moment, real life is pulling me away from my creative life. And I have every right to not be OK with the situation. Problem solving will come. Eventually. But compromise must wait until I’ve pouted about it for a while.
The week of December 4th, I made some minor final revisions to a story and that’s about all the time I spent on my “real work.” My novel, which I didn’t work on at all in November (by design), continues to sit there, unexamined. And I feel the disconnect from my work in my gut, in my heart. And I know it’s part of a reoccurring terror that my life can head off into some new, unchosen trajectory without any notice at all.
We know we must fight for our right to create, but who or what are we are fighting? Often, for me, it is myself: my anticipation of the future as well as the demands and obligations I place on myself.
How about you? Do you easily get derailed by real life? I’d love to hear your ideas for staying in touch with your work. Comment on the blog. Navigate to my website, click the blog title, and complete the dialogue box that will open at the end of the post.
If you enjoyed this journal entry, you might like to read about Creativity in The Tough Times.
The Big Cinch
Don’t miss The Big Cinch from Montag Press, an award-winning supernatural noir adventure by Kathy L. Brown. Sean Joye, a fae-touched young veteran of 1922’s Irish Civil War, aims to atone for his assassin past and make a clean, new life in America. Until he asks the wrong questions…
I started this blog thread on the gritty details of the writing process over on my Facebook Author page, @kbkathylbrown, but think I might be better served putting it over here. If you’re interest in following my writing process in an informal way, you’ll find a few posts on Facebook that might interest you. You can subscribe to the blog from the website landing page (scroll down).
And Now a Word from Our Sponsor
Check out my novel from Montag Press ,The Big Cinch, a supernatural noir adventure by Kathy L. Brown. Order today. Sean Joye, a fae-touched young veteran of 1922’s Irish Civil War, aims to atone for his assassin past and make a clean, new life in America. Until he asks the wrong questions. . .
Love Letters to St. Louis is an adorable letter-shaped volume of short stories, poems, essays, and illustrations and includes my first science fiction story, “Welcome to Earthport Prime: A Self-Guided Tour.” A perfect gift and profits benefit the guild’s young writers’ program. Available on Amazon and local St. Louis bookshops.
Reviews, even a line or two, put the books you enjoyed in a more prominent position on Amazon and are vital for independent and small-press books to find their audience. Remember your most recent read? Leave a review for it on Amazon or Goodreads today. The direct link to review Wolfhearted on Amazon is here, The Resurrectionist, here , and Water of Life, here, or visit my Shop off the landing page menu to review at Barnes and Noble. Thanks in advance. Reviews put the book in a more prominent position on Amazon.
Like the blog? Subscribe (form at the bottom of my website) to never miss an issue. Want more? Sign up for my subscription list to hear about new releases and appearance before the social media crowd. And, of course, I’m selling books. Check out all my stories at Amazon.com. Or at Barnes and Noble if you prefer, here. Order The Big Cinch from Bookshop.org, here and The Resurrectionist, here. My novella, Wolfhearted, is available as an audiobook, here.