Now that the final day is here in all its fresh glory, I can
say that May had me SWAMPED.
Snowed under.
Drowning in obligations.
Between two writing-related trips, an exciting project,
family visits, family illness and a break-neck pace at the day job, it was
absolutely off-the-wall bonkers in Sarah’s world. BONKERS.
I feel like I’ve barely had time to breathe, let alone
process all that has gone on, but what I can say I noticed is something I
totally didn’t expect.
I wanted to write ALL THE TIME.
Somehow, some way, I noticed in the last thirty-one days
that my level of creativity seemed to go up with my level of busyness in any
given day.
Obviously, this wasn’t a scientific survey or anything, but
on recent twelve-hour work days, you’d find me tapping away at my phone with
any free second. I wrote them while exercising, driving (typing them after I
parked!) and while up with the baby in the middle of the night.
And when I wasn’t actually writing, I was taking mental
notes. Or actual notes. Or running through dialogue in my head. Of course, I
wouldn’t do that during a three-hour work meeting, but I might during breaks.
Looking at it all, I wrote more than 35,000 words in the
month of May.
Words I actually like and are good—I know because I revised
them as I went (ah, the power of rereading what you wrote yesterday before
starting again today).
I’m not sure what June will hold. Maybe I burnt myself out
with work, writing and life in May and will spend the next six months getting
my equilibrium back. Or maybe stress didn’t have anything to do with it—I DO
love the project I’m working on. Maybe those words would’ve flowed out of me
anyway. It’s impossible to tell.
What I do know is that stress can be surprising in the
most productive of ways. Not that I want the month of May back. Nope, nope, I
don’t want that.
Where have you found unexpected creativity?
