Have I put too many irons in the fire? [blog]
Or am I merely distracted by the seasons?
Well, it seems I’ve been having a bit of a hard time publishing much lately. I’m writing a bunch, well, drafting, really—essays, stories, and poems—but it’s challenging to get to the editing part for the last few months. I feel pretty scatterbrained, which is mirrored in my writing practice.
For example, I’m working on a big piece on how to stop overthinking (and will enter it in a fabulous writing contest Tasshin Fogleman started). Next, I have a bunch of landing pages I want to rewrite for my website, and I have like fifteen docs for this publication in different stages of completion.
It’s not strange that my writing is all over the place, though. Since the start of May, I’ve been hopping from one thing to another. First, I went on a trip with some internet friends, which was truly amazing, and then I came back and worked nearly twice as many hours in my Saas content strategy job. Then I blitzed through making a creativity quiz, and then we went on summer holiday.
Don’t put too many irons in the fire
So now that the first weeks of our kids’ school have come and gone and I get a bit of breathing room, I finally notice that I kind of expected a bit too much from myself. Maybe I did try to put too many irons in the fire?
And just like the blacksmithing I did in my twenties, the rare moments I did have too many irons in the fire, at least one—usually more—turned out bad. The steel would fizzle, burn, and melt, making it useless.
Maybe that’s a good analogy for some of my pieces that have been too long in the draft stage, in the fire, and have begun to “melt.” They’ve become stale and boring to me—my enthusiasm going to another piece or topic, and another, and another.
Don’t ignore a good idea
It feels as though what Elizabeth Gilbert—author of “Eat, Pray, Love”—says in her book “Big Magic” is really true. In the book she talks about the “spirit” of a creative idea; it will knock at your door, but if you ignore it for too long, it’ll fly off (to someone else?), and you can’t get it back.
That’s how a bunch of my ideas, talking points—and now some drafts—feel as well. Sometimes I can reel in the idea again as if it were on a long leash. But still, it’s much more difficult to feel enthusiastic about something that I haven’t been working on for a while than when it was actually on my mind the first time, as a new insight or experience.
Writing & editing goals
This is obviously not what I want. So to practice what I preach, I’m going to set myself a personal writing challenge, or rather, an editing challenge (as I’m drafting enough already). I’ll start out super small, similar to how I start a new strength training regime after a long period of not working out.
The plan: I will edit my work three times a week in bursts of at least 15-minutes. Like Pomodoro, but mini, mini Pomodoros. And then, every new week, I’ll tack on one more of these mini Pomodoros until at least the end of the year, maybe a little longer. (The idea of a specific writing challenge also reminds me of the writing challenge I did around this time in 2019, where I wrote an article every single day for 70 days. (Say what?!) The quality wasn’t the best, but I definitely produced some great ones.)
Seasonality
Maybe being all over the place is also a consequence of seasonality. I’ve always had more trouble writing during spring and summer vs. writing during autumn and winter. (Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve been looking forward to autumn for at least a month now… And with the weather over the last week, I got what I wished for, yay!) I guess I could lean into that seasonality a bit more. If I don’t expect too much from myself, writing-wise, in those seasons, it could save me from a constant “should” mindset.
My writing for the coming quarter
Ok, this update or journal-type post has gone on long enough (but I felt like writing it). So for those of you who stuck around to the end, here’s some of what’s in my writing pipeline, in no particular order, for the last quarter of the year:
A fable about a cat and a hedgehog (my kids got to choose the characters): the fable’s themes are compassion and decision-making.
The story of my first high-school-sweetheart heartbreak (The theme is regret).
A big—and in my opinion, pretty unique—piece on overthinking (I’m a bit nervous about this one, I want to make it so good, haha).
A love letter to a specific group of individuals (not going to give away which group, sorry!).
An essay about the power of focus (on one person or thing).
Ok, that’s it for this issue. Thanks so much for reading, and let me know what you think through a reply or comment! Also, let me know if you have a creative practice of your own that helps you to stay consistent.
Sincerely,
Jibran
PS. I also wrote two poems. Like really fast! And not perfect on purpose! (But since I’m so new to poem writing, I want to get as many of them out there as practice.) The tweets containing them are here:
