…And Why You’d Want To
Maybe I should qualify that: How to fake your own death if you’re stifled / frustrated / stuck in your creative life.
Here’s a four-stage process I recommend:
1. Before the how, consider the why
2. Rate your days, alien-style
3. Analyze & prioritize
4. Remove & replace
Stage 1: Before the how, consider the why
What is it about your old life that isn’t working anymore, and why does it bother you? For me, it’s the way I use time. I don’t have enough of that juicy creating bandwidth in my life.
This bothers me because I want to write a few good novels before I die. And that takes time.
I wish I had the time I used to have as a baby. Just lying around all day, learning how to live.
The first step in reinventing this situation is a bit like faking your own death. Only a bit. I mean, the real process is DAUNTING. But the only way for me to understand why my creative bandwidth shrunk over the last couple of years is to examine the days of my life.That brings us to…
Stage 2: Rate your days, alien-style
So you’re metaphorically a newborn.
Now, live your life like you’re that newborn — or better, an alien — in your own body.
Go through each day as per usual, but more objectively. Make a note for every action.
Do you like coffee? (Silly question.) But hey, if you need coffee but don’t actually like the taste, list that action and mark it up with an ‘X’, maybe, and the why–e.g., “hate the taste.”
Same with how you get to work. If you don’t like how that’s going, mark an X and say what you don’t like about it. For example: Taking transit involves a) waiting outside and b) rush-hour crowds. Double X.
Rate your day alien-style for at least a week, to encompass not only workdays but your free time.
That way, if you end up, idk, feeling trapped in your own social life or familial obligations, you’ll have that information under consideration as well.
Note: If there’s stuff you like in your days, be sure to write “keep” or put a checkmark next to those actions. Biweekly movie night with the kids and the ex-husband, KEEP! Because we love the kids, and there is often PIE!
Stage 3: Analyze & Prioritize
To prioritize, take your list of actions, your Xs and KEEPs, and sort them by frequency and level of control. For example, if you drink the detested coffee daily, that should be high up. If you dislike Xmas but it’s only once a year, it can probably wait.
Also consider how responsible you are for each X on your list. You control what you drink. But some things, like weather events, you can’t control. They might be a regular bummer but there’s nothing you can do about those except move.
List all the KEEPs, too. You’re not removing those from your life, but you don’t want to forget about them, either.
Stage 4: Remove & Replace
The daily bummers you endure are low-hanging fruit. Removing the small insistent drip-drip-drip of regular soul-sucking actions and experiences will improve your energy and focus. Get rid of those so you can concentrate on the bigger stuff that you want to change.
E.g. Instead of coffee, try out some reishi mushroom maca wondermud. Or, you know, green tea. Or take a caffeine pill. I’m spitballing, here! Focus on what you can control.
If you hate the bus ride to work, consider ways to replace it. Personally, I’ll walk an hour rather than get on a city bus most of the time. No shade to the buses, which are great for people watching, but walking avoids the crowds AND gives me time to think.
When I worked for other people back in the Pleistocene age, walking vs. bussing meant getting up at 5 am. There are trade-offs, is what I’m saying.
When you have removed or changed the daily irks, the timewasters with no interest to you personally (focusing on the ones you can change), look at the bigger things.
If you were to die tomorrow, what would you regret not having done or experienced?
Start with the biggest one, and get that thing into your life. You might have to drop something you used to like, or change how you do it.
Yes, changing your ways might cause a stir! But if you can’t take a little stirring in your one precious life on Earth, what are you doing?!
The last couple of years, I’ve been swirling the drain on writing projects, seesawing between enthusiasm and procrastination. For a while, I felt as though writing — a thing that used to be the highlight of my day — is something I’ll never get right.
But then I realized I was doing it the old way: setting goals that didn’t fit anymore, like hitting a certain word count, or writing a scene for a novel whose premise I didn’t like.
I also realized that overscheduling my weekends or nights is toxic for the creative bandwidth. Some things I used to do just have to stop — maybe forever, or maybe just until I feel like doing them again.
So the first removals are:
- X word count goals
- X ‘meh’ projects
- X overscheduling free time
My wants are deeper and more amorphous / peculiar, like capturing a character’s interior landscape or expanding my glimpses into the story’s mood and voice.
Luckily, a whole bunch of ways to do that have resurfaced, things I used to do by instinct. Like dipping into touchstone books,* posing questions to myself and letting the answer float by, and delaying the actual writing of scenes until I can’t stop myself.
AND I am planning to bolster that with environmental inspirations, things like going to readings and listening to other writers talk about their work.
THAT’S THE NEW LIFE FOR THE NEW NOVEL, and so far it’s the most fun I’ve had writing since September, 2022.
*touchstone book — a book that lights your creative fire
Cheers,
Pat
The Tenants is launched!
Yay! I’ve had so much fun at both launch parties (virtual and in-person), and I’ve gotten some lovely feedback on the book.
Thanks so much to award-winning writer Pam Bustin for hosting the virtual launch, and to Anvil Press and Black Bond Books (Book Warehouse Main Street) for hosting the live one.
If you preordered a copy and it hasn’t come yet, rest assured! Copies are being sent to their new homes AS WE SPEAK.
If you’d like your local bookstore or library to order it, they will need the title (The Tenants), author (Pat Dobie), publisher (Anvil Press), & year (2024).Once you’ve read it, please consider sharing an honest review on your socials (my Facebook & Instagram handles are below), your booky community of choice (e.g., Goodreads, Litsy…), or wherever you hang out online.
I’m so grateful for anything you can do to help The Tenants reach its readers. Reviews and word of mouth really help books live beyond that first week of publication.
If you write a review, please send me the link! Just go to the Contact page to find out how to get in touch.
Breaking News: Gifted Underachievers, a podcast for midlevel creatives with delusional ambitions, goes live on July 22!!! Subscribe for free at Gifted Underachieverson Substack, and you’ll get an email when Episode 1 drops.
So far, short segments include: “The call from Oslo,” & “Branding for writers (& other creatives).”
Call for interviewees: For future episodes, we are looking for working creatives (writers, visual artists, musicians, comedians, performers) to interview about what frustrates you, makes you anxious, or pisses you off about your field. [By “working” we mean regularly producing creative work to professional standards, regardless of your day job.] Email giftedunderachievers@substack.com–we would love you to be part of the conversation!
Book Bag
A Bouquet Brought Back from Space, by Kevin Spenst (Anvil Press, 2024)
This is my touchstone book for the summer, a collection of beautiful poems that open up that creative bandwidth I’m trying to spend more time in.