The key to putting magik into your work is to feel the magik around you. It’s so easy when you’ve got a deadline, or a goal in mind, to get wrapped up in it to the exclusion of all else. It’s not just writers who do this, students do it, cops do it, even real estate agents do it. You forget to live, to experience life and the world that surrounds you. When this happens, our spirit, and our creativity, dries up, slowly but surely.
Lynn’s talked about the joy of quilting, Charli’s talked about paying attention to what makes you happy, Alison does web design and spends a lot of time with her family. Me, I like to dabble in photography. The point is, we all have something other that our work that makes our work better.
Having other outlets, other things besides the story or the work, to occupy your mind and show you the joy in life is probably the least talked about aspect of being a writer…and one of the most important. How often do you hear writers say that the best ideas come to them when they’re doing something else? Or that if they writers block or trouble with a scene, they go for a walk, or watch a movie with a friend, and it helps clear their mind?
Yes, in order to continuously grow and get better at our chosen craft we need to work on it regularly, but it’s wrong to think we should concentrate on it to the exclusion of everything else. So my advice to the world on this fine day in May…stop and smell the flowers, go shopping or make wild spontaneous love with your partner. Do something that will make you feel the blood rushing through your veins and remind you that you can’t write about life if you don’t live it – and do it often.
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I actually just blogged about this as well in relation to pottery class. I take a class on monday mornings and get to squish clay around.
I’m not very good at it, but it is an artform that requires I be fully present in my body, and not overthink. That’s one of my pitfalls–I overthink, so doing something utterly removed from writing actually helps me focus on the writing, if that makes sense.
Gorgeous photograph! I’m *terrible* at taking pictures, so I really appreciate folks who are skilled at it.
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Ohh I’ve never taken a pottery class. That sounds like fun!
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LJ, you are not alone. If only you could see the lopsided collection of pots I threw back when I took my class. My teacher kindly called them “abstract-form.”
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Amen. If life becomes gray and drab, it’s a sure thing the work has, too.
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Well said!
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“If life becomes gray and drab, it’s a sure thing the work has, too.”
I think I’m going to embroider that on a pillow, Charlene.
Gorgeous photo, Sasha.
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Thanks, Lynn. Occasionally I get a good one.
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Hey Sasha, can I stop and smell flowers, go shopping AND make wild spontaneous love to my husband [thereby making it no longer spontaneous]?
This is my favorite part of being a writer. I get to be steeped in EVERYTHING and call it research.
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Jess, For sure you can do it all…and call it research.
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Beautiful picture. I’d say you get good ones much more than occasionally.
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Thank You Ann.