This writing update is part of the rubric “Musings of the Awakened Writing Soul”. The Musings document my journey into the creative realm where I (re)discover my writing powers, form and develop a distinct creative voice, and remind myself of the true meaning of writing and creativity. All of this, while proving that writing and creativity can be an integral part of an already dynamic life in today’s reality. The Musings are also for you – those on a similar creative journey who want to connect and feel like someone gets it; those full of self-doubt and not believing it is worth it; or simply those old souls who enjoy reading deep, reflective content while sipping a hot drink on a cozy Sunday afternoon. Let the Musings make you believe in yourself and in goodness a bit more, and give you wings to fly into the enchanting kingdom of creativity.
What you can expect to see in this update:
- The realistic expectations for these writing updates
- A key to making time for writing
- Sustainable writing habits – a rare luxury nowadays
- Putting sudden inspirations to good use
Introduction
Welcome to the first in what (I hope) will become a series of writing updates reflecting on my progress, inspirations, challenges, lessons learned, and more broadly, all the small steps I take toward achieving my aspiration to be a creative writer. Now that the Sunlight Writer has been awakened with a clearer focus – namely, representing the creative space that the heart and mind subconsciously gravitate towards – it is only natural to pay attention to all those mundane daily moments that may seem insignificant on their own, but they show that something is happening after all.
Some Basic Expectations
I’m not sure how often I will be able to provide these writing updates – in an ideal world, that would be once per week. But I have been living in the world of adults long enough to know that too much wishful thinking is mostly rewarded with disappointment. Hence, I want to set a minimal and realistic expectation for my circumstances – as long as it is more often than never, then we have basically won the race. Don’t want to sound too desperate here, I’m far from believing that I’m the only one struggling to fit creativity and inspiration in a world dominated by rationalism and repetitive grind. At the same time, to me personally, writing has been such an elusive dream for so long that I don’t dare believing something tangible will come out of it. I want to tread carefully, but I’m willing to defy those odds. I’m ready to prove to my pesky inner critic that progress can be as little as one written sentence per week and that it all leads somewhere in the long run. So here goes nothing…
Never a Perfect Time for Writing
Last week was challenging in terms of headspace (like most weeks in recent months). There were a thousand things one can think of, deal with, resolve, pile up and get overwhelmed by – from trying to save a dying goldfish, cleaning the new bigger aquarium and getting the necessary gear, thinking about the decoration of that second balcony, planning a painfully necessary sea vacation to keeping up with laundry, eating some more decent food and just getting some sleep. Anyhow, on such a background and with a full-time job, you might imagine there’s barely any space left for the imaginary world, for beauty and inspiration. But there is – if you strive hard and make it. That is exactly the key to this week’s writing progress. A key that my overthinking brain couldn’t come to terms with for some time. At the end of the day, none of us want it to be such a strife – to have to squeeze in a few minutes on the commute or conjure up a moment in the middle of ten other things going on – all for that elusive creative dream that may come true or not.
But it’s all (unfortunately) a matter of sacrifice, especially when time is the scarcest resource we have nowadays. At some point, you may need to sacrifice being in control of all your surroundings, of hustling around and putting everything in order (which in the end maybe only matters in your head), of some leisure and meaningful activities like a good, long conversation with your partner/family or even simple joys like just watching something and unwinding after a long day. I figured I just had to drop everything on a random evening and simply sit and write my inspirations before they’re gone. Because if not, good luck summoning them back later. You will have a better chance of summoning the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe. It will simply not come back to you when you finally make the time (after weeks or months of postponing) and gear up a proper mindset for writing.
Taming the Creative Beast Once in a Blue Moon
This is the part I struggle with the most when it comes to writing these days. If you don’t have a solid habit and endless reserve of ideas, you’re left with some untamed, inconsistent creativity lingering beyond the surface, unable to be shaped into anything but impossible to subdue. It becomes a vicious circle – you have an idea, but you don’t have time to write it because it’s random and you’re busy, or you have time devoted specifically to writing, but you have no idea because it feels too forced. A good, consistent habit of writing might be able to beat that, but having consistent habits nowadays is a luxury of its own. Very often, life is way too dynamic and ever-changing to allow you such predictability. In such a case then, you do what you can – you steal time to tame this creative beast every now and then, until this eventually becomes some sort of habit or you get there in another way.
Suddenly I’m Inspired
In more concrete terms of progress, though, I’m happy that this time inspiration was graciously brought on a chivalry golden plate – we went on a weekend trip to a medieval castle in Germany. I have recently been experimenting with various ways of gathering inspiration from personal experiences and external influences. I can tell you, trips like this are a gold mine crying to be explored. I was way too afraid to lose this precious resource, so last Monday, as soon as I got back from work, before I even had dinner, I sat down and wrote all about the moods, feelings, setting, and potential creative threads derived from this trip. Yes, the empty writing journal I wanted to set up for months is lying around gathering dust, and yes, I have no complete, tangible idea about my story (although a new idea came to me in the shower this same week, too). It’s all up in the air, bits and pieces here and there. But I’m convinced that these inspirations I wrote down will serve me in the long run. If nothing else, they will at least make me more aware of my own creativity and triggers. PS: I also wrote this reflective post you’re currently reading (a big step for a repressed creative), I count this as bonus points for progress.
Last Lines
Bottom line of all of this is: grab the moment, sit and write the words, the way they come, whenever they grace you with their presence, even if it means stopping in the middle of your commute back home, or leaving those dirty dishes for one more night in the sink, or sacrificing 2 hours of sleep knowing you will be “the walking dead” tomorrow. If you want to make inspiration and creativity part of your life, if you want to give a chance to this shadowy writing persona inside you, just go for it. Drop it all, for one evening, and just write.
How do you manage to fit writing and creativity into your life? Does it come easy, or do you need to do some summoning? Let me know if you can relate (or maybe not).
Until next time,
D.D.N.
The Sunlight Writer 