On Blogging Again

It’s been a long time since I’ve touched this little corner of the internet. Writing blog posts used to be effortless, a much needed break from the struggles of fiction writing, but over time the process began to shift. I started to overthink every word, and still nothing I wrote was good enough. It didn’t help that blogging as a medium died a slow, quiet death. I’ve gone back and forth about starting a newsletter instead, something that would probably be more useful for me in the long term (building an email list and all that) but frankly I don’t think I have enough to say right now to justify clogging up someone’s already full inbox. So I’ve come back to this, a place where I can write without pressure, a bulletin board for my creative life.

2023 Recap

Since it’s been almost 2 years since I posted anything here, let’s have a little recap, shall we? I love seeing how other artists and writers break up their time – how long it takes them to finish projects, how they choose what to focus on. I’m far from consistent, but I think it’s interesting to see the flow of my creative efforts over the course of a year.

Highlights:

  • January – May: Finished the first draft of a novella project. Typing “The End” on a new draft was such a relief. I hadn’t finished a draft of anything longer than a short story since 2018, after many, many false starts. 
  • June – September: Chipped away at my current novel in progress. Wrote several short stories, including my first-ever horror story. I submitted a story to Taco Bell Quarterly, which is exactly what it sounds like: a literary magazine dedicated entirely to Taco Bell. I’m really proud of that story – I wrote something entirely out of my comfort zone, and loved every second of it. If it gets rejected, I’ll be sure to post it in-full here 🙂 
  • October – November: My friends and I tabled at Houston zine fest, so I spent the bulk of these two months prepping for that. Making art is such a satisfying change of pace from writing, because it’s so much easier to see your progress. It may seem like a small thing, but having a physical end product rather than 80,000 words tucked away in a Scrivener doc can make a world of difference. Also, Zine Fest was a blast!
  • December: I’m about 30,000 words into my novel now, and I’m finally starting to hit my stride with it. One of my biggest struggles this year has been finding the energy for creativity around my full time job. I make my best work when I connect with the draft every day, and that just hasn’t been possible recently. Striking that balance between creative consistency and taking care of myself is so freaking hard, but we’re getting there.

On Process

One of the things that inspired me to write this blog post in the first place was the YouTube channel of artist Maria Sisul. Her videos are calming and beautifully shot, and she talks about her creative process with such clarity and purpose. Her videos made me realize that I’ve been trying to brute-force my creativity. I’ve been focusing so much on making myself do the work that I’ve forgotten that there are other structures I can implement for myself outside of tracking word count and measuring progress. What does my creative process actually look like? How can I build routines that support both my productivity and the work itself? Seems obvious, huh? Sometimes I get so caught up in gathering the mental energy required to write that I forget the point of writing itself:  imagination, play, and storytelling. 

This is Where I Leave You

…but hopefully not for long. I’m feeling a little vulnerable and rusty writing this. I’m worried it’s boring to everyone but myself. But I also know that I love reading about other people’s creative lives, from their triumphs all the way down to the routines and schedules that make the work possible. I hope you do, too.

Get Out of a Creative Slump with Me!

I’m a sucker for a fresh start, and there really is nothing more invigorating than the clean slate provided by 365 brand new days rolling out in front of you. New Year’s magic and all that. This year was no different – January began brimming with potential. And then… something happened.

It began with a creeping feeling of dissatisfaction. The days started to feel the same. All of my writing goals felt impossibly, almost comically, far away. Other hobbies felt like a waste of time. My friends were going to grad school, moving across the country, or entering some new phase of their life. And here I was, no closer to my dreams, living the same day over and over again.

Everyone talks about your twenties as a time of momentous change, tumultuous and exciting. But what they don’t mention are the quieter times, where you not only have to navigate the small, everyday challenges of being alive but also steer your life in the direction you want to go, always keeping one eye on the horizon. When the usual milestones of academic achievement and graduation fall away, you have to make your own goal posts. At it’s best, this is an exciting prospect. At it’s worst, it’s crushing. And for the past couple weeks, it’s been crushing me.

Writing this, I don’t feel 100% better, but I can at least see a way out of the stagnancy.

Here’s what helped me get out of it, and hopefully, if you’re feeling something similar, it might help you find a way out, too.

1. Connection – This is sometimes the hardest but most crucial part of getting out a creative rut. One moment of genuine connection, even if it has nothing to do with what you’re going through, can make you feel like you have enough energy to move forward. I spent some time talking things out with my parents, boyfriend, and friends, and even when we weren’t talking about how stuck I felt, they helped me get out of my own head.

2. Lists – Often when I’m stuck I make lists of things I can do to make myself feel better.

Things like:
– Take a walk
-Read
-Play with Wally
-Draw something
– Listen to a comfort podcast

When the energy to do ANYTHING is hard to come by, lists can remind you of your coping mechanisms and push you do at least one thing that’s good for you. And if you’re lucky, they unlock something that breaks you out of your slump!

3. One (1) Good Idea – On a particularly bad day this week, I made a quick list of things I wanted to create when I was feeling better. As I wrote the last one, something sparked.

I know that drawing and painting helps me get out of my own head, but the energy required was too much when I was already feeling uninspired. Doodling about how I was feeling, though? That I could do. This tiny spark of inspiration got the creative gears turning again. Remember, all you need is a single idea that give you that familiar push towards action.

4. Draw it out – This exercise was just for me – I didn’t care if it was pretty or if it made sense to anyone but myself. Journaling is great, but when you’re stuck in a loop, it doesn’t help to write about the same feelings over and over. Drawing it out was relaxing, therapeutic, AND it helped me ease back into making art again.

5. Find new inspiration – Around this time I started listening to The Creative Pep Talk podcast. I’d heard about it for years but had never actually listened to more than a couple episodes. Sometimes you need to switch up your usual sources of inspiration, and Andy J. Pizza’s helpful advice was just what I needed.

6. Re-evaluate your priorities – At this point I was starting to feel more optimistic, but the fragile ground I was building for myself still felt like it could crumble at any moment. So I grabbed a notebook and brain dumped. I made unstructured lists. I thought about how and why I wanted to create moving forward. This wasn’t a plan or a to-do list, but just a way to untangle my own thoughts. I needed to figure out how to enjoy creating again, so I tried to name times that creating felt the best. The key here is that I wasn’t putting any pressure on myself to turn this into a schedule, or set goals, or anything like that. I was just feeling it out, trying to see what I already knew worked before I tried to change anything.

7. Make a plan, but hold it loosely – I LOVE planning. When I’m already inspired, a plan can make me feel like anything is possible. But I also knew I couldn’t be as intense about this process when I was still climbing out of my creative rut, so I picked a few things that I was really looking forward to making, like this blog post, and started in on them. And so I came out of this process with a true sense of accomplishment, instead of failing once again at sticking to my numerous and often over-ambitious schedules.

There you have it – my personal roadmap for getting out of a slump, written very freshly on the other side. I’d love to hear what you turn to when you’re feeling uninspired, and if you’re going through a rough period with your creative work or otherwise, please please know you’re not alone. It’s been a rough couple of years, and we’re all in this together. Until next time!