750 Words, And Some Thoughts on Taking a Little Time for Myself

I love this time of year, after Labor Day, back-to-school time...it always feels like such a fresh start. And something I've been thinking about doing...now seemed like the perfect time to begin.

There's a book about creativity (The Artist's Way) I read ages ago that talks about the fact that to be creative, it's good to get all the garbage out of your mind. So if you write three pages in the morning about whatever it is you're thinking about (a page typewritten is 250 words), you can do better from a creative standpoint during the day.

I used to do this, write longhand, but haven't in a long time, not since I got pregnant with the babies at least.

But a little while ago, I heard about 750words.com, and thought it might be fun to do this on the computer.

Of course it took me a while to start because:

a) I'm really good at not letting myself do fun things that are just for me, and

b) What mother has time for such things? and

c) I'm not doing anything creative right now except for blogging due to lack of time, so is the whole 750 words thing really necessary?

But I started. A few weeks ago. And I'm not doing it every day, but that's OK. And it doesn't take that much time--a lot less time than I thought it would--turns out, I can write 750 words in about 12 minutes. 

And there's a lot in my head that needs to get out, with babies and work and my husband job hunting and us potentially moving and family drama and etc...

And also, I'm starting to think about how taking some time to write again might not be such a bad idea. I've given up pretty much everything to be 100% focused on these babies, and I've loved every minute of it. But in the long term, it's probably better to have a little balance, you know? Like maybe working on my books a couple nights a week after the babies go to bed, so I'm not talking anything away from them...

XOXO

Plans to Bring Some Creativity Back Into My Life

So I work in a creative field, which is great, but I also like to do a variety of creative stuff on the side, just for me. Stuff that's been HARD to do while going through IVF (read: for the past 18 months or so), because I find the extra time for all the appointments, my clinic being out of town, the dugs making me crazy, and just the general stress and anxiety associated with IVF...I just don't have anything left.

But I'm pregnant now (knock on wood). And granted, morning sickness and exhaustion may put a kink in these plans, but I really want to try to make an effort to do some creative things on a personal level again.

Writing

One of my New Year's Resolutions for this year was to finish a bunch of short pieces that I've written and send them out for publication. This hasn't gone so well. Partly because of the IVF distractions detailed above, but also because I don't like short pieces. I don't like reading them. I don't like writing them. I've been trying to work with short pieces because they're the logical thing to work on/try to get published to build my career as a writer, but it's not what I love. What I love is books. Big, long, sprawling projects, where I don't feel so hugely confined, like I do when I try to write something short. So I'm going to let the short pieces go.

Instead, I have a book in my head (actually, some of it's already down on paper). It's about San Francisco, where I lived for seven years, young and just out of school, during the first dot com boom/bust. A lot of interesting stuff happened there (I think that's really true of anyone who's lived in San Francisco.) What I want to write is kind of a love letter to the city, written in a very unusual style (eg, not straight narration). I don't know how to explain it, other than this book just needs to be written how it wants to be written. I've been thinking about this book for a couple years, and even if no one else ever wants to read it, it's the type of book I would love to read. If it comes out the way I hope that it does, it is going to be so cool.

I'm committing some time each day to work on it, Monday through Friday. I would LOVE to have this book all down on paper before the baby comes.

I'm also going to hook up with a group of local writers I've worked with in the past...we critique each other's work and there is nothing more motivating than a group of people expecting work from you.

Photography

I know what I'm doing when it comes to writing a book (the San Francisco book will be my fourth.) I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to photography. It's fun to be a beginner!

I'm taking an online workshop over the next 6 weeks, and I'm so excited about it! I have a fancy camera, but don't really know how to use it...am just using it as a point-and-shoot and would like to change that. I'm taking the course because I don't learn very well from manuals, and also, as above, I'm very motivated by people expecting things from me.

So I just wanted to put it out there that I'm trying to get back the creative side of my being. Again, fingers crossed that morning sickness/exhaustion doesn't thwart these plans...

Hope everyone has an amazing weekend! 

XOXO