Juggling arts : /

I haven't posted for a while because I'm trying to juggle my arts

Not to be confused with juggling my arse, which I almost wrote in error

Like most writers, I struggle to keep my mind on the task. I procrastinate, get distracted. I don't like working for nothing. Life gets in the way. You know what I mean.

It took a long time for me to realise 'the arts' was the way for me, the pointlessness of me trying to understand statistical analysis

Being creative is hard because you have to motivate yourself, be creative in your 'spare' time. Creatives have a reputation for being self-destructive, self-absorbed, depressive hermits, who sometimes drink too much. (My interpretation)

All of this can interfere with the task in hand

I've failed to write my novel this year because I started painting again

Writing is hard. Writing and painting is harder. Writing is a time-gobbling, protracted habit that sucks at ones life like a leech 

Painting is different. It's not so intense. Your physicality is looser. I'm less crumpled-up and stiff when painting; I feel light and energetic, airy and free...

Even if I don't look it 😼

Painting is immediate compared to writing. Yielding tangible, visual results in seconds; which is highly seductive, especially after a lifetime of being holed-up in a chair, bleeding through the eyes to produce vaguely useful prose for nothing

  Don't get me wrong, I have a love-hate relationship with writing. We don't see eye-to-eye at times :)

So, to force myself to juggle arts, I started entering more literary things... 

Competitions, magazines, odd enterprises like De Montford Literature. I got a couple of snippets in Mslexia recently. I then applied to WriteNow - part of Penguin Random House 

And managed to jump their first hurdle

So I'll be attending a workshop in Nottingham in a month's time. I'm pretty chuffed :) :)

This made me write, as I had to polish 6,000 words from my novel-not-currently-in-progress

And this little success boosted my confidence because, apparently, I'm one of 150 writers to get through from over 1700 applicants :)

So maybe I'm doing something right?



Maybe I am juggling my arse after all...

Please keep in touch :)

Writing Page

Art Page

Writing and Art fusion Page

:)