Permission to Relax

One of the hardest aspects of transitioning from office work, chasing after kids, staying up on current events so as to be an effective blogger, etc., to almost a pure artist in terms of writing, music, and crochet, is learning to relax. Well, not so much relax, but learning to shut down and do nothing as a means of recharging the creative batteries.

I'm lucky enough to live in a hidden gem of a city where we have world class cultural institutions and amenities accessible year round thanks to them being on a tax base. Truly, taking advantage of the proximity is something I enjoy. However, escaping the guilt of living in a society where work is often placed above family and God - let alone mental health and natural stress relief - is much harder. Just sitting at the pool and watching people I've known for decades sunning themselves is a challenge.

After a challenging summer, that is where I find myself. I need to finish up a book, and get it published, but am only good for editing for about an hour and half. Composing I can last longer, and frequently do, but an hour and a half of work in a day?  Huh? I'm an American. How is that possible? So many people here are fond of saying "if you don't work, you don't eat."

Well, in writing, some realities just have to be worked around, and is something I have to reconcile, just like only being able to sing for so long before the voice and the rest of the body needs rest. The brain and the creative juices need it too.

And I have to take it. It's a learned skill in a family of people who have a tendency not to stop.

That's where I am. Learning to make a schedule that includes rest and relaxation as part of the work cycle.

News:

I started sketching out Alicia and Gabriel's story today. Will begin composing when I have "Talk Dirty to Me" published, and Draft 2 of "High Maintenance" in the can.

Draft 3 of "Talk Dirty to Me" should be done within the next week. Looking at the second week of September or so to publish depending on Draft 4.

Real Life May End Up In A Book

This writer is very fond of a saying: "Careful or you'll end up in my novel."

Funny thing that, when it comes to making sure that readers can relate to characters and what happens to them, everyday experiences and real life situations work well for demonstrative purposes.

Take the summer of 2017, for example. In this writer's family, a sibling had to have some pretty major heart surgery, so all the rest of us pitched in. Yours truly did probably more than her fair share, but being the one working from home, that was just the way it had to be.

And then, the favorite son arrived for his two weeks at the homestead.

Now, there are those who will say, oh, come on, there isn't a favorite son...you have to see the tail feather and peed on fire hydrants to understand.

So, anyway, this one walks in the front door and does something that is a massive pet peeve among the women in the family: he decided to do our laundry, and put stuff in the drier that doesn't go in the drier. Then, on a Friday, towels only used once went to the laundry area. Towels are washed on Tuesdays. This has been a schedule in the house since the old man retired and took on that job. Aluminum pans and wood handled knives were run through the dishwasher...not describing how things ended up in the kitchen cabinets.

And, of course, there was a problem with us not having a microwave.

Essentially, as usual, this brother walked in the door and started to rearrange the furniture. Again.

Ticks us off.

This is the sort of behavior that ends up in novels. It's not the crazy stuff so much, but what pushes buttons. And doing my laundry wrong pushes my buttons.