What creative activities do I do besides writing?
One of the things I love most about hanging out with writers and librarians (I am both), is that we’re a creative bunch. Writing is an inherently creative activity, yet writers will often have other creative hobbies as well. Ditto for librarians. As I’ve taken on leadership positions at work, I have less and less time for any creative work (including writing, sadly), but I still build creativity into my life where I can. So, what creative activities do I do besides writing?
I’ll answer that in a minute, but first: This post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) blog hop. On the first Wednesday of every month, we IWSG-ers share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Our awesome co-hosts this month are Diedre Knight, Lisa Buie Collard , Kim Lajevardi, and JQ Rose. Stop by and leave them some comment love.
Each month our fearless leader (Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh) gives us an optional question to answer. This month’s question: What creative activity do you engage in when you’re not writing?
Creative activities I wish I had more time for
So, let me get back to answering the question. There’s something magical about creating, well, anything, so I’ve tried quite a few creative hobbies over the course of my life: various fiber arts (embroidery, cross stitch, knitting, crochet for about 5 minutes, and sewing), gardening, cooking, scrapbooking, photography, and writing (duh). The ones that I still do: writing (again, duh), photography (strictly amateur), cooking, and gardening. My retirement dream is to do more of all of these things, especially writing, gardening, and photography. I wouldn’t mind taking up knitting and sewing again too, and I really want to learn to quilt.
I used to blog more often and include lots of photos, mostly travel and garden pix. If you want to see some (c’mon… lie to me and tell me you want to see some):
- Garden-related posts
- Posts focused on photos, usually travel
- Arizona-related posts, usually including pictures of cactuses
I also love attempting concert photography. I don’t go to a lot of concerts anymore–I’m old and go to bed early, and concerts are freakin’ expensive–but I do have a few concert pics posted on here.
As I said, there’s something magical about creating. Something new exists–a story, a photo, a plant, a garden design, a loaf of homemade bread–because of something I did. That’s real power. Mwahahahahah.
Ahem.
It really is, though. I believe humans were made to create, and when we don’t, we suffer. So go forth and create!
Writing and personal news
- I’m slowly making progress editing Delta Dawn. Work keeps getting in the way, but some progress is better than no progress.
- We’re settling into our home in Clovis, CA. Still too many boxes, but we’re getting there. Now that the weather is cooler, we’re also starting to garden. Our yard is almost a half acre and parts of it are empty (but they won’t be for long… the local nurseries are going to *love* me).
- We took a day off from work and home stuff last month to visit Yosemite. It’s one of my favorite places, and now it’s less than 2 hours away. Pics to follow if I can get my act together enough to post them.
- We had fun terrorizing the neighborhood kids on Halloween. Our display was a bit last-minute–we had to find and unpack the props–but it turned out all right. Here are a couple of pics:
The memery
And now I’m wondering if you can use C4 to transfer an image from the Sunday comics. IYKYK (and you’re old).
That’s the damn truth. Now where’s the leftover Halloween candy?
And finally:
I am the Scandinavian architect. Long-Suffering Husband is the raccoon on crystal meth. And in case you’re wondering what happens when such a pair creates an offspring, let’s just say raccoon-on-crystal-meth appears to be a dominant trait.
That’s it for me this month. May your creative activities bear fruit and your raccoon on crystal meth learn to load the freakin’ dishwasher correctly.
15 Comments
Joanne
I completely agree that the racoon on crystal meth trait seems to be dominant (at least among the males in my house!). I have lots of creative hobbies and have a hard time focusing on just one or two…
Janet Alcorn
Before work took over my life, I couldn’t focus on just 2 hobbies either. I’ve had to narrow it down a bit now, though.
alexjcavanaugh
Great decorations!
Sorry about all the boxes. Moving sucks.
Concert photos! Very cool. From your list, I’ve seen Def Leppard.
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! Moving does suck, but it’s fun to start over in a new place.
emaginette
Loved the pics. Looks like you had a riot. 🙂
Anna from elements of emaginette
Janet Alcorn
Thanks! It was a blast.
Esther O'Neill
Hi,
Gardening in Westmorland might be more successful if the sun would shine, even occasionally, especially for at least three days.
Can’t knit, crochet or paint, except walls, ceilings and doors. Two stone walls I built 11 years ago are still standing.
Creating a cover for House of the Ghost Child, date TBC – has been hugely enjoyable, art and IT, with my husband and a cousin here, and other cousins in California, trying so many times till we’re all happy.
Imagine attempting that by ship or even by plane.
Esther
Janet Alcorn
Isn’t it great to be able to collaborate with people thousands of miles away without having to travel? The internet makes the world a much smaller place.
diedre Knight
Great Halloween decor! Hilarious memes! No shortage of creativity, I see 😉 Enjoy
Janet Alcorn
Thanks!
Loni Townsend
My daughter is the gardener in the family. I can barely remember to even do things like turn on the water in the back.
Your pictures look like a fun, scary time!
Janet Alcorn
LOL – I forget to water too, so now I have an irrigation system with a timer. Problem solved!
Jennifer Lane
Your gardening is beautiful! I would love to visit Yosemite one day. Good luck editing.
Janet Alcorn
I thought I replied to this on my phone, but I guess WordPress ate it. Thanks for the kind words! And if you do decide to visit Yosemite, feel free to hit me up for tips on where to go. Also happy to grab coffee with you if your Yosemite travel takes you to Fresno (nearest airport for Yosemite).
Kalpana
Hi! Your Halloween decor is pretty effective. I enjoyed browsing through your blog and was intrigued by your news of two scopies in one month. I need to have both those and have put it off for a while now. The latest reason being that one of my cat’s has jaundice. Happy blogging.