It's harvest season here at the house. My main focus has been on the garden and other gifts Mother Nature has been kind enough to send my way. These things take precedence because, after all, winter is on its way and grocery prices sure aren't going to drop along with the temperatures.
You may think that the time spent collecting, processing, and preserving this bounty is a derailment for my writing...well, more of a derailment that I've already managed on my own in front of the tv. Outward appearances would definitely suggest that you are correct in this assumption. Not many words have been scrawled across the back of the scrap paper I use to hand write rough drafts, after all. I have managed to type up the previously written scribblings into something that at least approximates progress on the second novel, but I'm still an abysmal number of words short of my goal. Who could blame you for believing that this is a stagnant time in my writing world? It's not. While my hands are busy with peeling and stirring, and my focus is on building the means to eat well through the cold months ahead, my creative side is thrilled to have me out of my own way for a change. It is winterizing my creative world. It's taking stock. It's revisiting my "why" and making sure that the foundation of my goals is sound. It's patching the cracks in my creative well so that the waters won't be muddied with doubt as that well fills. It's correcting the course for all the times I wandered off the path I've mapped out...and keeping me from running after shiny things that might be amazing down the road but will only cost me precious time now. It's gearing up for the long haul during the snowy months I'll be spending in front of the wood stove bringing my worlds to life on the page. Mine is a creative soul. It thrives on the magic that flows through it and out into the world by my hands. But it needs a rest now and then. An actual rest. One not filled with the anxiety produced by feeling like I'm not living up to expectations - mine or anyone else's. My creative side needed this down time in the same way that my pantry and freezers need the influx of fresh produce. Winter is coming. Remember to stock up your creative pantry along with the physical one.
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June 2022
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