The Boring Side of Creativity

I'm not certain why, but we tend to romanticize the making of art.

But making art is not the same as enjoying the finished project.

Making art takes time, more time than even accomplished and experienced artists sometimes estimate for a project, and that time is often laborious and tedious.

Now there's definitely an indescribable delight in the finished product, no doubt.

But that's brief and fleeting. For even the person who climbs a mountaintop must climb back down. The way up and the way down is challenging and the outcome isn't certain.

To return to a mountaintop high, one must start a new project, a new climb, a new goal with no reassurance of reaching the top.

To create art means risking failure, over and over and over again - while taking those repetitive steps that may come with some boredom. That's not easy to do on a daily basis.

Fortunately, I save most artistic projects for the weekend. Journalism, for all its twenty-first uncertainties, comes with one certainty.

I must meet those deadlines if I want to stick around in the industry.

Here's a good article on the boring life of an artist.

https://www.dumbofeather.com/articles/the-gently-boring-life-of-an-artist/

Illustration by Christopher Gleason for "Staked!" Follow him at artworkbytopher.com.

When Worlds Collide

Today I woke up before the alarm clock. Instead of hitting snooze, I got up and, while feeding cats and making coffee, mentally ran down my list of undone projects, debating which one I'd choose.

And then - the lightbulb moment.

I has a project I forgot to put on my weekend list, oops!

The project needed a little time to complete, one reason why I kept pushing it to a weekend. But I'd done that so often, the project finally fell off the schedule altogether.

I really couldn't delay it another week, especially since I'd promised to finish it.

Yes, it's a story.

Yes, it's a BryonySeries story.

And, yet, it's a story I was asked to write, not a story I simply decided to write. In fact, writing this particular story never occurred to me.

For me, as a writer, writing an assigned a story with a theme and then trying to figure it out how to connect it to the existing fictional world is challenging.

But I got it done this morning.

Yes, you will be able to, eventually, read it.

And now I'm waaaaaaaay behind.

Happy Monday! 

Illustration by Kathleen Rose Van Pelt for "Bryony."

Time Off

Five years ago, after a very hard couple of years for my family and when I was still a freelancer, I decided to work extra hard during December and take off the time between Christmas and the New Year and spend it with my family.

Except right around that time, the Sun Times sold The Herald-News to Shaw Media, and I found myself in transition and with a new job instead.

Don't get me wrong. I was thrilled for the joy, which turned out to be lifesaving on more levels than I can explain here. In this case, delayed gratification was the better gratification, and I poured myself into my new role.

Then, a couple years ago, the holidays lined up in such a way that I had several days off in a row. It was the first time I had a "Christmas vacation" since I was a kid. I read a lot (and even stayed up super late one night reading, a real joy) and spent hours out on the I&M Canal one day with Timothy.

And it renewed my goal to have a real Christmas vacation.

So this year, I saved a good chunk of my vacation for the days between Christmas and New Year. A few "life" things that popped up almost obliterated my plans at the last minute. 

The keyword is "almost."

I had a list of things I wanted to accomplish. I'm happy to say I did almost all of them.

* I outlined two novels (the werewolf story and The Phoenix, the first in the BryonySeries Limbo trilogy).

* I finished the memoir. I'm waiting on one photo from the author, and Rebekah needs to make the cover. Then we are ready for uploading, copyediting, and then...voila!

* I finished round one of edits for a client, a project I've slowly worked at all fall.

* I started the formatting for a fundraising book for WriteOn Joliet.

* I began a nonfiction book I plan to self-publish this fall.

* I read. A LOT.

* I visited a friend in the hospital three times.

* I met with Tom Hernandez, my WriteOn Joliet co-leader, to plan 2020.

* I went to the nursing home to see Ron.

* I broke down the three boxes from my most recent at-home office (We moved again in October). I have all the boxes from my Channahon office when we lost the home in 2013, but the plan to is to empty a box a week until the boxes are gone).

* I slept A LOT.

* I drank lots of good coffee (which did not interfere with my sleep).

I came home from work on Christmas Eve night to find the traditional meal was all prepared and waiting for me.

My home was full of people of all ages (one child already had an ice pack to the head, a sure sign of rambunctious fun).

The next day was quieter, since we don't celebrate our family Christmas until Jan. 7. I walked a lot, hung out a lot, visited a friend in the hospital (with Timothy carrying the tree he and Joshua bought for my room all the way up to her room).

Rebekah made homemade cinnamon rolls and ham steaks for breakfast. I added a salad to mine to make it healthy, haha. Jasmine popped in and cleaned up the kitchen.

Mostly, I did nothing. It felt so good, I can't even begin to describe it.

Some leftover work (and an issue that arose) made a dent into one of the vacation days. But Cindy was at the house and did all the housework while I worked, even though she had to go to work that night.

I returned to work this morning. I'm rested, refreshed, and happy to be back! :)

I'm Back

Remember what I said about blog posts being spotty while I was in Raleigh? Definitely an understatement. They, along with most social media postings, disappeared all together for one good reason: no time.

It was a very relaxing and productive vacation, and I'll share the details of both over the next few days.

Relaxing because I spent time away simply enjoying my family and doing the things they want to do without the the daily routine calling my name.

Productive because we also wrapped up a couple of lingering projects.

I was happy to leave. I'm happy to be back.

And now to tame the email monster...