A Summer of Possibilities and Responsibilities

I'm officially back from my Paris vacation, and I had a terrific time. My companion and I were out and about absolutely every day, seeing both the most well-known sights and the little out-of-the-way ones. One writerly highlight was a return trip to the famous bookstore Shakespeare and Company. I was delighted to see that it hadn't changed; books were still crammed into every possible space, and the little writing nook complete with antique typewriter was intact. It's wonderful to see such a literary institution thriving.

Now that I'm back, I'm taking advantage of early-morning jet lag to plunge straight into the many responsibilities I have waiting for me. I'm just beginning to feel the urge to write new fiction, but at the same time I'm bound by dozens of more real-world obligations like filling out grad school forms and embarking on the job search in earnest. The good news is that I've gotten a couple of calls for interviews, but the blank page of my next story still awaits.

What do you do when you're torn between creative possibilities and real-world responsibilities? It can a tough balancing act sometimes. I feel the tug of a new story just rarely enough that I'm tempted to throw aside all other obligations in order to think creatively. What if that elusive impulse to write fades away while I'm still diligently filling out forms? At the same time, being a writer for the long term requires a certain amount of faith that inspiration once experienced will again return. It's sort of like the faith we all have to hold that after a long, dark winter, spring will return.

Comments

[John C. Hager]

When I'm working on a real-world something and inspiration strikes, I make notes on a 3x5 index card. Too small? Nope. All I'm doing is making notes, not writing the thing. I include the specific reasons why the idea took me over in the first place. I spend no more than fifteen minutes and one index card to make my notes. Then I set it aside until a more opportune time. It's hard sometimes, but it beats having the rest of your responsibilities turn to mush while you're doing something else.

For an ongoing solution, I try to make sure to schedule both real-world and creative responsibilities into each workday. Sometimes both won't fit. When they do, though, it makes a huge difference. Balance is good.

[Naomi Hamm]

But if it weren't for the real world and the half-twightlight of midnight ramblings on the net and on paper, it still would be too much and too unreal. There must be the balance between both for a writer to survive and suceed. And don't let us forget also the dream world of which we must escape to do our astral projections into another realm of creativity and back again, until it is all reapted time and time again.