Overflow
Whether you write as yourself or under a pseudonym, and whether you write fiction or non-fiction, it all incorporates a certain amount of creativity. Does that overflow into the rest of your life? Can you draw? Play the flute? Do you dress with a certain flair? Are you an actor? If you have a blog does it reflect your writing style or are you someone different blogging than writing?
Is everything you do intertwined?
We’re all more than one thing, but I don’t mean friend/son/daughter/uncle/grandmother. I mean, are you a painter you and an accountant you and a writer you and does writing filter through to it all or there dams built that keep it all separate? Do you have to keep it sectioned off? We could say it’s compartmentalizing but that makes it sound very psychological, and I think it’s not. I think it’s just how it is, no analysis or psychobabble or reasoning necessary.
All this goes along with there being many of each of us, and also with one of the books I’m reading. So if you had to say all your parts, without listing a myriad of familial labels and keeping it to one (my blog, my rules) what other parts of you are there and, how do they effect each other? Or do they? Like I’m a Mom/Writer…and frankly trying to decide what else. I am so NOT an accountant, though, just for the record.
For me I think that being a writer spills over into everything and means I can’t just jot off a blog post or a Twitter Tweet or a Facebook update without re-reading it and sometimes rewriting it, but always proofing it. It means that I sit in line waiting for my daughter to come out of Junior High and I see someone I know who is wearing just the right outfit that would categorize a character just the way I want. It means that I play with words and language to a fault, just to get a reaction from someone sometimes. (No one who reads this blog) I collect quotes and consider creative license a God-given right, which doesn’t mean that I lie (I don’t) but I do make shit up for fun and I only reveal the parts of any story I tell that move it along, and that are relevant, and that I want someone to know.
You?
YES to every question asked. My, aren’t we well-rounded? (Well, that applies to my body shape too, but you get the drift.) *snirk*
Lots of questions! It’s a weird sort of balance, for me. If I am in full-blown creative mode for piano teaching planning, then my writing suffers. If I’m being creative about one thing, then I have less to offer something else, usually.
I’m very compartmental, but they say that’s not so healthy. After 8 years of it, I agree. I have different emails for each compartment of my life, and given that teaching and pseudonym need to stay far apart, it is sometimes a strain. I think that’s why I was so attracted to spy fiction.
Angie, HA, we get eachother.
Spy, you’re right you do have many things to keep separate. I think in today’s world it’s the key to success. Having separate, not always equal, and knowing how and when to bridge the gaps.
Okay, let’s see if this makes sense. I think the writer in me is in all parts/titles of my life, observing, watching, sensing, even to a slight or subconscious degree. But the mom/wife/friend/etc is not necessarily in the writer part? Mom me isn’t helping me write, friend me is not patting myself on the back. It’s the writer who is everywhere.
Joanne:
I’m with you on that, sort of. My writer-self hides behind the curtain in every single aspect of my life. But the mom me allows me to write with maternal instincts. The friend me allows me to write with humor. The daughter me allows me to write from a child’s perspective. The me that enjoys fashion helps the writer me imagine the details of a character’s wardrobe and the foodie me allows me to add eating and health as a element of character building. I don’t have another career besides writing, unless you want to count blogging and marketing which I do as a sideline — I guess that part of me adds to the writer by allowing me the freedom and impetus to market myself as a writer, to build a blog readership, to become and stay tech savvy and to keep abreast of all that goes on in publishing.
Amy