Writing Through Life
Many thanks to my author friend, Kim, for this guest blog invitation. One of the topics I’ve mulled recently is how to balance the pursuit of creativity with the difficult issues and dilemmas life tosses at me. When I embarked on a full-time career in writing, I had some idea of what lay ahead. Lots of hard work. A dedication to improving my craft. Constant attention to the market and what was selling and what was not. Budgeting time for the business side of writing once publication happened. Staying in touch with readers and keeping them current on my fiction releases and works in progress. Etc.
But no matter how many times I assessed the time I’d allocated to my writing against the time I dealt with other life issues, I found each day forced me to reassess how I approached my juggling of these balls and balancing of the demands. Needless to say, on certain days one or more of the balls dropped, but I had to make sure I gathered up any fallen and paid closer attention to keeping the same in the air the next day and the days following.
Aside from focusing on my writing, researching, promotion, editing and cyber communication for 8-10 hours at least five days a week, I had other responsibilities and events that threatened to cripple my creativity—some threatening to cripple it permanently. But as with anything in life we love and love doing, I decided to step back from the creative process over my vacation and give myself a break from the balancing act.
Funny thing happened. Although some would have surrendered, I’ve stuck it out. After only two days on vacation, I started missing my writing time at the computer. On several pages of a magazine I’d brought along for reading during our flights, I jotted notes for a new story. A couple days later, I attended a writer’s conference and quickly became caught up in the swell of activity and camaraderie of fellow authors. As I returned to the hotel room after dining with some friends the first night of the conference, I sat down and chatted with my husband about how it was impossible for me to stay away from writing for very long. Writing is a passion. It’s something I can’t purge from my life no matter how many demands, frustrations, setbacks and emergencies are otherwise flung my way.
Life is great, but life is also tough. It puts many obstacles in our paths, but we mustn’t allow them to deter us from fulfilling our goals and doing our best to make our dreams become reality. Realize there will be times you will have to forego certain pursuits temporarily in favor of others. But never, ever let your dreams slip away. Go after what you love. Pursue it with passion. Dare to make your dreams become reality.
Shawna Moore
ROUGHRIDER – Ellora’s Cave
HELLE IN HEELS – Ellora’s Cave
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