In the first edition of "What's It Like Being A Creative?" I talked about my procrastination habit, sharing my craft with family and of course the fact that I almost didn't post that week, but this one's a little different.
To begin I just want to state that writing is my hobby and I'm under my own supervision so that makes it easier for me to compromise and take breaks. Me personally being a writer is associated with a bunch of things, and one of those would be deadlines. Now being under my own supervision does make this a tad easier but I still set deadlines to increase my work rate. Because I have been writing for a while I know my standard and therefore I am able to set deadlines that aren't too crazy, giving myself enough time to sort out what ever needs to be done. The only real pressure is where the date is coming closer and you have nothing to show for it, this happens to me very often by the way but seemingly, I work better under pressure. When I first started to branch into the writing community I saw how difficult it was to grow. Growing my platform is still one of the thing I struggle with now but I know I always lose my audience because I lack consistency, which comes back to the point I made about taking breaks. I can take breaks for months on end but the hardest part isn't leaving, it's coming back. Enough about the basic stuff, let's delve into my actual writing career. The talk about my first book? Dare I say this would be the first time I've ever explained this. Okay so I began Lies and Secrets in about 2017-18 when it was called "Mia's adventure". I never wanted to take the youth away from this book so for the sake of it there were some elements that stayed all throughout the last publishing of L&S. Writing this book put me through a lot but also got me through much more. There's parts in that book that speak to my person profoundly which I slightly mention in the introduction of the latest release. I say "It contains some, not many, but some of my personal experiences yet I tried not to attach myself to it too much or I wouldn't have been able to wrap it up". Not to say I've killed a person, but Mia executed a well thought out plan. Seriously though, as a bored child to have a fanatical world to go to at the tip of your fingers is surely amazing. To have it grow over time more and more till it fulfils the image in your head is something I couldn't be more proud of. To have a creative piece I can say I accomplished before I was even out of secondary school, it will forever be up there as one of my biggest achievements because of how dedicated I had been to it. What did this do in preparation of becoming a creative though? It made me learn tons of things: 1. Patience For when my editor was taking forever to get back to me with the final product. 2. Balance For when my creative art started to feel more like the society I was trying to escape initially. 3. The importance of dedication For when the end goal seemed further than I anticipated. and finally, 4. The allocation of time; organisation So that I could write when it suited me, not just any available time. I feel like the art of writing is what you are creating and you should never settle for good enough when your confident within yourself. My journey with words - Miriam.
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So I almost didn't post a blog this week, and I feel like that's a perfect way to start this.
A lot of the time I find it very hard not to procrastinate and actually prioritise things that need to be done. As a creative I can afford to give myself that leeway but I know it won't get me anywhere either so it's counterproductive. This week is a perfect example because I really had no reason for non-productivity except, lack of enthusiasm and topics that interested me. But I do want to touch on this though because I definitely think it's different for everyone. I had a conversation with one of my friends earlier about not being able to produce this week and obviously he gave me words of encouragement and solutions but, I felt as though there would be an unrest within me if I didn't mention this in a blog. I told him that "I am always talking about how I've overcome this and that but I forget how easy it is to fall into the same habits". It's easy for me to procrastinate, it's nature. But it's all about nurturing yourself out of the mentality that includes laying around all day thinking you'll get to it, and never do. And just because you've disciplined yourself doesn't mean there won't be a cheat day or two, I'm still in the process of learning how to not beat myself up about certain things, yet not necessarily babying myself either? I hope that makes sense. Anyways back to the question, what's it like being a creative? One of the things I've noticed about myself is that I don't like to share my craft to my friends and family and I've deduced it to two points:
To explain point two, I really don't know how to explain point two. I remember when I released the new edition of my book after a year of editing and procrastination, only five people actually congratulated me considering everyone knows about my writing hobby. I'm not exactly annoyed but, it just makes me lose the interest to discuss it because at times people ask me about it as a conversation filler; I don't even want to get into how much I hate small talk. On the creating aspect I love every bit of it because I have something to show proof of what I'm capable of outside of academics, it's just the process that drains me. Being a creative does have it's perks though, you get to meet people who are like-minded and seeing someone successful always makes me want to strive further. I almost didn't post a blog this week. - Miriam. |
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