I’ve had a heck of a March. From a sudden lay off from my job to grinding every day to find a new job, I was exhausted emotionally. I suddenly had all of this time to do my writing, but when I would sit down it was like a wall formed to keep all of the words at bay. Some might call it writer’s block. I think my brain was just very unhappy with my hobby suddenly becoming the only thing I had to focus on during the day.
I tried not to let myself mope too much and worked on hobbies other than writing. I lost myself in books, reading seven books over the month. I retaught myself to crochet and cranked out two hats and started on a bigger project. I did some loose planning of a new story idea (which also got blocked by the end of a week). I also got back into a weight lifting routine.
All of these things combined with hours worth of job search, redoing my resume to get through the search first round of applications, and interviewing with various recruiters.
One thing that was brought up by a writing group I’m in was that I used to write to unwind and escape from my day to day. It was almost natural for my creative side to sort of stall out when there wasn’t another job to avoid when I got home. But, Rachel, wasn’t the job search stressful enough? You would think. But I think I sort of froze up when creative writing became the only writing I was doing.
Basically, if you’re going through something new, different, or more challenging than usual, it’s only natural that you creative side takes a step back. I don’t think there’s much truth to the “tortured artist” trope. It’ s more like pulling on emotions in hindsight than being able to create while it’s actively happening.
Never fear! After a month and a week of hardcore searching, I was offered a new position that I can’t wait to start. My creativity will be on the mend in no time!
Happy Creating!
Rachel
Subtle Stories 