Several of you who follow this blog are writers. I could really use your advice here! Thanks.
I’m in a pickle and I need your help.
I have two all-consuming passions right now and I’m trying to figure out what to do with them. It involves the writing of two books.
Dreamy summer
Since April I have been immersed in research for a book I want to write about Elizabeth Alcott, the one sister of that illustrious family who has never truly been fleshed out. I just spent one of the most meaningful summers in years, head buried in old books, Alcott letters and journals from the Houghton Library at Harvard, and biographies of the family. I’ve spent countless hours in
the car during my long commute to work talking out my theories, struggling to assemble the puzzle and having no luck. Then one day, a line for a preface to the book came into my head out of nowhere and I scribbled the beginnings of the…
View original post 416 more words
Louisa May Alcott is My Passion 
I find that two projects done at the same time reinforce each other, often with surprising connections. The creative person needs surprise.
What an awesome thought! How often have you done this and how do you manage it from a practical standpoint?
I do it much of the time, and in segments. Book reviews, diary, poems, solving medical mysteries, reading widely to let events and words click in.
bert
I guess I do that too, juggling these two blogs plus article writing and the book (now maybe books). I think what it comes down to is faith that the passion will return even after you’ve let it go cold. That always happens with this blog. I go through spells where I feel adrift and am not interested in posting, and then I read something and boom! I’m raring to go again.
I can see I have much still to learn about the creative process but that’s what ultimately makes this all so wonderful.
I’m finding myself doing that too and it works quite well.
I know what you mean about letting it go cold. That bothers me also when a project is deferred or interrupted. Have faith that when you return to it you can, by immersion, regain the creative drive.
Thank you for saying that. I know it’s true, but it’s still nice to hear from from a friend. I’m actually jumping headlong back in tomorrow by visiting Houghton again. I have an unexpected free Saturday (meaning my husband has someplace to go :-)) and I’m taking advantage of it!