Focus and feelings… They have a lot to do with things, when your trade is creating imaginary people and places and lives. I’ve made a career out of both fiction and non-fiction, and the biggest difference I’ve discovered between the two has been how deeply the way that I’m feeling affects my focus on my work.
I’ve often discussed with my agent how much easier it is for me to “plug in” to a non-fiction project on the fly, especially during those times when my heart and soul can’t beat in time with whatever make believe fictional world I’m painting. It’s been good for me the last five years to have a balance, between teaching and writing to teach and even some ghost writing gigs, and my fiction work. The last couple of years have been crazy. Both halves of my writing “business” have taken off like gang busters, sometimes too quickly at entirely the wrong times, but I was in no position to complain and never did (except sometimes to my friends, when I was sure no one else was listening). This is the third and, hopefully, last career change I’ll make in my life, and I’m a girl who embraces being thankful and grateful and working her butt off while opportunity’s striking.
So, now, here I am, writing for two fiction publishers, expanding two different series of my own creation, travelling when asked to speak to groups who think I have something to teach them about writing, even getting paid for the privilege more often than not now, and pitching my first non-fiction writing project to an interested publisher. A great start to this new chapter in my life, five years out from my first publishing “call.” Time to settle into a quick and productive routine that both the creative and analytical sides of my brain clearly thrive on, right?
Except… Isn’t it interesting, that it’s often when we expect to feel most settled and productive, that life decides to shake things up, just to make sure we’re paying attention. To show us that quick isn’t always the way, even when we’ve finally proven to ourselves that we’re more than capable of excelling at meeting even the toughest deadlines. And to remind us that productive means so much more than mastering whatever routine we’re so sure defines all that we can be. Sometimes, it just comes down t how you’re feeling… (more…)
