Writing is not your hobby

Artist’s Way: Week Two

Some #MondayMotivation Even if you’re not making a living, you can make it your life

Inspired by the week two of The Artist’s Way programme, I have been identifying some of my saboteurs. These can be real people who get in your way. They can also be things you put in your way of your creativity. Julia Cameron’s 12-week programme helps anyone develop their innate creativity. I wrote about week one here but to give a quick overview you work through ideas she suggests each day in three “Morning Pages”. Then each week you take yourself on an Artist’s Date.

I haven’t been well so didn’t manage going out this week but I have been interested in what ideas come up in the morning journaling.
This is what came up in the quote :

Creativity is not a hobby, it’s a way of life

Certainly one idea that keeps coming up are well-meaning relatives or friends who talk about my writing as a hobby. They congratulate me for having “me-time”. This probably comments more on how they see me run ragged after my son. Their intention may be to compliment me for trying out something new. When I took a writing course earlier this year, people commented on the time I was taking “for me.” But they still asked more about my job and my son.

Of course, it doesn’t matter what I call any work I do on my novel, blogging or working on other creative projects. It could be my side hustle, my hobby or me at play. What does matter is how these titles effect my attitude towards it. I return to my #MondayMotivation quote

Even if you’re not making a living, you can make it your life

Whatever your level of engagement with creativity, if it comes from an authentic place it can feel like play. It does in a way feel child-like to engage in writing. Once I was sitting in a café and I looked off into space. Grinning, a man asked me “Have you finished your homework then?” I suppose outside of a classroom, people aren’t used to seeing people scribbling into exercise books. Do school children even still use exercise books? They probably just type onto tablets now! It amused him. But it made me question my purpose.

To the outside world, writing fiction is an indulgence. Not work. I think this chapter of The Artist’s Way is helping us see who can travel along with us on the creative journey and who we might not want to tell what we are doing.

If nothing else, my musings this week has reminded me to take time and energy to do this work. It’s not just a hobby for me. It’s much more fun than that.