Creative Multitasking

Ahhhh …. the joys of Creativity.

While writing is still a passion for me, I am finding it harder and harder to get into the drive-till-you-crash novel mode.

I wonder why that is.

I’m going to skip the age thing, as I don’t think it’s as much that as it is the investment toll it takes to write 80,000 words (more or less).

As many of you know, there is a real commitment behind writing a full length novel. If you are as good as your grain (so to speak), you need to do a lot of research, have a flair for the English (or other) language, have patience for your story to develop, and be in a setting where you are not interrupted every five minutes.

You really should be willing to devote your entire being to writing that book, not only because you enjoy doing so, but it is so easy to get distracted into other creative worlds.

I know that all too well.

All you creative people do.

Where there’s writing there’s crafts. Where there’s quilting there is painting. Where there are Christmas ornaments there is ceramics. One door opens to another to another to another, and before you know it you look behind you and have left a half dozen doors wide open.

Which do you close? Which do you work on?

You love them all? The universe, in its wise forethought, only lets you do one project at a time.

I have a few novels I want to fine tune and get online. I have a third I need to write. I have a second trip to Paris outlined but (at the moment) have no Internet to do research. I also have a website I want to update, a craft show to prepare for, supplies to order, and a sketchbook I bought a few years ago that I’m dying to try out. And how about that Vietnamese Coconut Caramel Chicken recipe that’s been sitting in my inbox for over two weeks?

Dedication to one project at a time is a big mountain to climb. So is a writing free-for-all for weeks on end.

I hope by now you have found a main project to work on, plus have  a half dozen others waiting in the wing; research one, practicing on another, finishing up a third.

I find creative people find a way to multitask when it comes to Art in in its many forms. It’s a passion, it’s a destination. It’s a release and a growing experience. Prioritizing, unfortunately, is not as easy.

Tell me what creative balls YOU are juggling these days!