Creative (grunt) Work

in my neighborhood

The blog has been a bit light on content lately, I know. I'm sorry about that. As you can probably tell, I've been pouring a lot of effort into my upcoming online writing course. I'm also working on my critical thesis for grad school. Every day I hope to fit in some creative writing too, but so far that's been sparse. I'm in that stage of projects when you're working overtime, but it feels more like running in place or on some sort of big, looped treadmill. I swear I passed that tree already. And that rock looks suspiciously familiar.

I talked to a friend recently and she commented on how "exciting" my life is with all of these projects and the travel I've been doing. I am grateful for all of these things in my life. And it's really good to have friends remind me of all I've done and am doing. I routinely feel like I'm not doing enough, that I could be doing things better, that I'm somehow falling behind. I feel like this even when I've spent all day doing-doing-doing. Crazy, right? (There's that same tree and rock again....)

But as I told my friend, most of the time I'm not traveling or doing the fabulous parts of projects. Most days it's just me and my cats in my suburban house. A lot of the work for these creative projects is grunt work, slogging through the details. There are moments of inspiration and joy, but a lot of time I'm toiling away on things that aren't at all glamorous. My everyday life is quiet and rather boring. Sometimes I like this, because the quiet and solitude allows me time to do the nitty-gritty work of these projects I love. But I think it's also the reason I spend so much time online and why I travel so often: I'm out looking for signs of life, for other rocks and other trees.

My husband has the next week off from work, but I'll still be running laps to meet my project deadlines. But at least one day next week I'm going to go out and find a new tree to look at, just as a way to rest my eyes, legs, and mind.

p.s. I should also say that I'm not complaining about the project deadlines and all the work that goes into meeting them. I spent years and years not following my creative dreams. Now that I am, I feel extraordinarily fortunate to spend my time working on things I care about and believe in. I would rather slog through the details of these things than go back to slogging through a job I dislike. I love these rocks and trees. I really do.

Comments

[Lisa]

Great post!

Awesome photos!

Lovin' those rocks and trees right along with you, dear friend :-)

xxx

[cynthia newberry martin]

yes

[Sallly G.]

I hear what you're saying Jennifer. The energy that infuses a big picture passion can feel slowly whittled away by the detail and minutiae necessary for its successful implementation. And by the time you're ready for 'launch' ~ you can almost feel so far away from the initial enthusiasm and joy that sparked you in the first place ... until you launch - and it all returns ten-fold because the necessary foundation was effectively laid to support its overall magnificence and wonder.

I like to step outside and hear the wind when I'm feeling myself 'spinning wheels'. Just wanted to let you know that a 'sign of life' appreciated reading your words today ...