I’ve been fairly busy lately. This is a good thing of course, but it has also come at a price. I haven’t been getting as much reading and writing done as I would like. And that has become increasingly bothersome to me. I feel like my creativity well is running a little dry. I need to recharge it with new stimuli and new art.
But feeling the need to do this without having the time to actually do so is the annoying part. Thankfully, Mur Lafferty comes through with a great blog post. She writes that it’s okay to do these other things, to let your creative side turn off, or at least work in the background.
And for me, that was the key: getting permission to relax about it. Because honestly, stressing about it will only make it worse. It’s like the yips in golf. You start doing badly, then you focus on your mistakes, and then they get worse. It’s so hard to recover. Instead, you just need to shake it off, relax and keep moving.
So back to work. I’ll finish my assignments. And soon enough I’ll have time to read and write. But in the mean time, I should relax, and keep my eyes and ears open for new ideas and new stimuli to feed my slumbering unconscious (ironically, as my writing has decreased, my dreams have become far more vivid and colorful).
So as a thank you to Mur, I want to spread the word about her a bit. Check out her work on Twitter, blog, and podcast, I Should Be Writing. Also, she has a book out: THE SHAMBLING GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY. Go buy it.