On a private mailing list for my writers’ group, Amul Kumar recently asked, “What’s been getting in your way?” And it’s an interesting question to contemplate. One thing he writes: “I’ve created all these discrete spaces, online and at home, which were supposed to help me focus on the different kinds of productivity that I wanted to engage in. These spaces are no longer coherent, and therefore no longer functional” rings true to me as well. In 2008 I built, and then had circumstances destroy, various spaces both mental and physical for creativity. I’m working on how to push myself to create again, but more importantly, since the drive is still there, how to cultivate new spaces for creating. Work is going in fits and starts to revive my writers’ group itself, but also to revive my own writing habit in the habitual way that keeps my muse from gnawing angrily at the insides of my brain. Part of this is making sure I have support from other writers, in spaces that cultivate all of us being creative.
Some tasks I’m working on this week are organizing my online life, starting to maintain a to-do list using Astrid, and slowly beginning to organize my physical workspace into one that is more amenable to, well, working. In the New Year, I hope to revisit an old space which was once helpful — Novel in 90, which starts up again on January 1st (thanks to Stephanie Leary for bringing this to my attention). Even if I can’t keep up with the output (I’ll try!) I think it will be good encouragement, and hopefully a positive writing space for me again. I encourage you to check it out and join if it seems good to you, too.
What’s been getting in my way? I plan to keep examining this question till I can answer, ‘nothing!’
