I write for the challenge. To put it another way, writing is not easy for me, painting those word pictures requires digging deep and dredging up emotions that my characters need to have in order for the story to come alive. So it shouldn’t be a surprise when I need a break and a means to recharge my creative batteries.
That’s were hobbies come in.
I have many of them and I realize that many stimulate me in a way that writing doesn’t.
In short, they help create balance in my life–while reinforcing some of the skills necessary for writing.
Scrapbooking–I love colors and textures and I’m able to use both when creating a page. Each photo represents a memory and since I take many pictures, placing them in order that makes sense, cropping out extraneous stuff that does nothing for the image, and leaving in the things that add to the picture. (That’s editing folks)
Sewing–Again the colors and textures come into play and it helps to know what you’re going to make with the fabric you choose, plus all those notions that make it distinctly yours. (That would be voice and genre writing). It also helps to make any changes to the pattern before hand, thus you can save a lot of time. Attention to detail does matter, unless you want one sleeve to hang down to your knees while the other ends at your elbow.
Cooking–It helps to have all the ingredients if you’re cooking by a recipe. It’s also nice to have an idea what it is your making. But that doesn’t mean you can’t adapt the recipe, change up the spices, substitute portabello mushrooms for beef and applesauce for oil. Of course, you do need to know how such changes will affect the final product and if it will be edible (IE will your voice be marketable in your chosen genre?)
Gardening–Planting a seed and watching it grow. Since writing is solitary and sedentary this literally helps me move about, plucking weeds, trimming dead growth and reaping the fruits of my labor. (the relationship from the first word to he one hundred thousandth is obvious)
I have other hobbies, but these are my top four. So what do you do to find balance in your life?