Journeygirl

Hello fellow Children’s Writers and Friends,

I’m not the first writer to espouse the importance of filling the creative well and I definitely won’t be the last. However, today it is my turn!

Over the last few months I’ve been extremely busy at work. My job is somewhat seasonal and so there are times when I’m almost too busy to write. Almost I say, for I’m always writing in one way or another. Not creative writing though, the sort of writing I’ve not allowed myself to miss, or I wouldn’t get anything done. I jot down quick ideas, scribble scraps of scenes, type up endless to do lists, but that’s for another blog post at another time. Compartmentalizing my life during my busy work times helps as do the little tasks above,  but it’s always there gnawing at the back of my mind, my fingers itching to put put pen to paper or to create a simple sketch. This is often when doodling comes into its own. Again, that is for another time.

The busy period ended about a fortnight ago, but when it came time to finally put pen to paper, I found myself unable to. I was too exhausted. Physically, sure. Expected, but strangely enough creatively as well. I, like many others before me had nothing left in the well. I’ve been here before, After completing big projects; creative or otherwise, so I didn’t curse the timing of my creative drought. I didn’t despair at my lack of creative ideas. In reality I knew this wasn’t true at all. I have many ideas squirreled away in scrapbooks, on random scraps of paper, in Notes on my phone. I have ideas  from all the years of completing Tara Lazar’s StoryStorm and countless other writing exercises and courses. A lack of ideas was not the problem. The problem was putting them into coherent, interesting and beautiful sentences, paragraphs, scenes and stories.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, don’t despair. What both you and I need is to put it all aside, even though it might feel that this opportune time is slipping away. It’s a little like Christmas lunch or a similar special celebration. You can’t enjoy a gourmet meal until you (or someone else if you’re lucky) has prepared it. There’s hours, sometimes days of work that goes into preparation before the meal is laid out on the table to be devoured in minutes. Learning to enjoy the hours of preparation makes this fact, more bearable, and even enjoyable as well. One way to do this, in fact one of the best ways to do this is to ‘Fill Your Creative Well’. For those who are unaware, the concept was developed and the term coined by Julia Cameron in her groundbreaking work The Artist’s Way. To paraphrase, you can’t produce anything, let alone something magical from nothing. You need to rest and rediscover the joy of creating for creating’s sake.

For me this involved devouring the long-awaited next installment of Jessica Townsend‘s Nevermoor Series, namely Silverborn. (Here’s a little taste. Enjoy!) Despite its considerable length and the speed at which I completed it, that wasn’t enough as it turned out. I was hungrier and my creative well was drier than I realised. So, I next devoured the first installment of Skye McKenna’s Hedgewitch. I enjoyed reading both books and revelled in not only the story, but the authors’ writing prowess and for dessert I’m slowly savouring (again) Jen Storer’s See Me Jump. 

Yet, as deadlines are approaching or overdue as with this blog and my personal creative well does seem to be flowing, which is not entirely an unexpected relief, I will not refrain from returning for seconds. Please excuse the muddled let alone mixed metaphor My well is now at least half full and as I prepare new manuscripts and improve old ones, I will remember to continue filling it.

How do YOU do this? Well, you can read the wonderful works of other writers as I just did, you can watch a good movie, go explore the beauty of our natural world, go to an Art  Gallery, a stage show, musical, any sort of creative pursuit performed or presented by another Creative. You can also simply grab some materials and scribble, play and see what comes about. The more you create, the more you are able to create. Strange how that works . . .  but it does! So whatever you do, when you’re feeling a little bit dry, a little uninspired, don’t feel as though you’re failed. You simply need to fill your creative well.  Decide what to devour, take yourself on a creative date Julia Cameron style and enjoy that special time with your own creative spirit. That’s it. Short, sweet, simple, but oh so important. Whatever you choose to do– 

Savour of the quest, 

Farewell fellow travellers, 

Journeygirl