The Elusive Creative Mindset

Photo by Daria Kraplak on Unsplash

A few months ago, I was deep into research for my novel. Ideas for scenes, plot twists, and character motivations hit me at all hours of the day (especially right before falling asleep), and I felt so at one with my creativity that I never wanted it to end.

But it did. Life intervened, as it always does. The day job consumes much of my energy as we race to meet deadlines (BTW, the old saying, “Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part” is all fine and good, but rarely does it work in real life . . .it is still an emergency for me if I want to keep my job) and I’m finding myself just exhausted at the end of the day. How am I supposed to summon my creativity and write when I have no drive?

My health took a nosedive last week, and I’ve felt rotten ever since. I still managed to go to a talk by historian Rick Atkinson at Jamestown Settlement on Wednesday and learn more about his new trilogy on the American Revolution, but I developed a migraine halfway through and barely made it home.

There are days when I want to work on my novel, but I’m too damn tired, and I’d rather sit and watch television all night (which I did on Thursday - I started watching the 2011 series Homeland with Claire Danes and Damien Lewis, and binged 7 episodes…I know. Not good.)

But OH MY GOD, I desperately want to return to that place where I am completely immersed in my creative world.

I’m venting. I’m allowed, okay?

But after the vent must come the choice to do something about it.

So. What is the solution?

Here’s what I do know:

1. I can’t quit my job. I don’t have the luxury of a husband/partner to support me financially. It’s just me, so quitting my day job to focus on my writing is entirely out of the question.

2. It’s not a lack of will power. I am sick to death of criticizing myself for “not doing enough” when I bent over backwards for decades doing it all and more. So there will be none of that. I am determined to show myself grace and understanding. No more self-loathing!

3. I feel fulfilled and content when I’m being creative. How can I make that a daily thing?

4. It’s a fact that life often pulls us out of focus on our creative endeavors. No, it’s not realistic to live there 100% of the time. But damn it, I’d settle for living there at least 50%!

Perhaps it’s as simple as changing my mindset. Maybe it’s about making a conscious choice to choose my art and to start detaching from my day job. No, that doesn’t mean I start not giving a f**k about it, but instead, I choose to consciously not attach as much importance to it. I don’t find my identity in my day job - my identity is in my writing.

Secondly, I need to go back to what has worked before: “touching” my novel every day. That can mean either sitting down for a writing session, opening up the Word doc to perhaps read through it or make some notes or edits, or diving into some of my research books and digging a little deeper into a topic. Keeping one foot in my novel’s world is a great way to anchor myself in my creativity.

The problem, though, is making this a habit. However! I did it once . . . which means I can do it again.

If you have any tips or tricks for how to dive back into a creative mindset, I’d love to hear them!