Creative Souls

For my creative souls out there

michelleleighwrites Leave a comment

QUICK BLOG UPDATE:

Hey guys!

Before I get into what this post in actually titled. I just wanted to clue you in on some things. I have been vlogging as mentioned, but I haven’t edited anything yet,(things have been busy and this holiday season has me exhausted.) So the vlogs will be up at a later date. I have more footage than I thought-initially I planned to just do one massive vlog, but at this rate-it would end up being really long-so I’m probably going to have to break them into smaller vlogs.

Also today I did a lot of ground work for the writing of  my newest short story series; Welcome Home. Good stuff coming your way…and I will be posting a new chapter soon.

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XO

Michelle

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Dear Creative Souls,

It’s a beautiful thing when it just comes naturally isn’t it. When that light sparks and a fire is ignited inside you and your fingers can’t type as fast as your mind is going.

It’s such a rush and that’s when you feel like you are doing what you were always meant to do.

But, sadly it isn’t always that easy. In fact more than likely it’s a difficult task to handle on the regular.

I’ve always been creative. Even as a kid, I was always pretending and playing.

And I have always said that if I had a job that I really loved, it wouldn’t feel like work to me.

But you know what -being creative is work. It is some of the hardest work you can do.

It is mentally and emotionally exhausting. So much of your heart is displayed to the world for other people to comment on and critique.

And when the inspiration and the ideas stop, the failure you feel is much more personal and internal, than if you just failed at a regular job related task.

So what do we do when we lack inspiration? When our lights go dim?

Do we give up?

Are we supposed to just accept this fate.

This momentary lack of inspiration.. is it going to be forever?

There are so many creative people in this world, who have missed their calling.

Or who have moved on from their creative talents, because it wasn’t the sensible or “adult” thing to do. Because life pushed them into a corner and they needed to stray away to make ends meet.

It’s no secret that the creative souls struggle. We put ourselves in unhappy circumstances sometimes. We let our creative souls suffer. We sit behind a desk, we turn into daily robots, and crunch numbers.

It’s no place for a creative soul.

I see emotion in things. Love.

I see colors. I see patterns.

I’m trained to analyze and to dig deeper.

What is the meaning behind it all?

So much beauty comes from art, film, music, photography, writing.

These things we treasure, these things we used to escape our stresses.

These enjoyments.

Yet these are the people who struggle most to make a living.

The cost of life is higher than ever, and gone is the artistic feel at times.

It’s all about the benjamins.

I understand money is important.

Do it for the green.

But if something isn’t right and you feel it in your soul, you are doing it wrong.

It’s time to find that passion you once knew.

Weather it’s painting a blank canvas. Or writing that book you always wanted to write.

Stay in the crummy job, stick it out.

But only long enough until you find  some place else to turn to, a job that feeds your creativity.

Because we can’t let the arts die.

I work with kids and I can see how it’s changed.

It’s all academic.

You ask a math question. A million hands go up.

You ask them to talk about their likes, their interests, they freeze.

It’s uncool to be creative, since when?

It fills me with such joy, when I see a child express their creativity, when they are proud of a product they’ve created.

That’s what being a kid, is all about.

It’s that piece of child that should stay within us always.

Allowing anything less, is stealing childhood moments from them, they can’t get back.

So what do we do here?

When we start to notice that artists get the short end of the stick?

So many artists have back up plans-in case.

Why can’t being an artist be the goal, the attainable goal?

This itch to create, to move onto more…to keep going-to climb out of our rut.

Those are the real signs.

They are the pushes.

It’s so easy to get comfortable in life, to feel safe.

To settle.

But when you think about that, is that really living?

What would the artist in your soul do?

Think about it.

-<3-

 

 

 

 

 

Writer’s Corner: The Neglectful Writer

michelleleighwrites Leave a comment

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Anyone who stumbles upon this blog recently, would think of it as a fashion/lifestyle vibes type blog. The truth of the matter is on some days it is. These are things I am interested in and this blog is basically an open diary featuring things I love and care deeply about.  But at the root it is supposed to be a safe place to tell the stories I have been harboring in my heart and soul and notebooks for years. Or the stories I get inspired to write day by day. And because of this, I feel like my blog motto has taken a bit of a blow over the past few months.

Lately, (and I know I’ve posted things like this before) I have been neglecting writing my own stories. It’s something I’ve been avoiding. Coming up with excuse after excuse, first it was well I’m starting a new job- I need to get acclimated, then it became well now I’m just too busy to write, (life is too crazy, too much is going on, *hint hint* Dear Michelle, this is your clue- all the more reason to write down your feelings) and now I don’t know maybe it’s the summer slump that’s getting to me.

Writer’s block is real. But I think this is bigger. This isn’t the first time I’ve struggled to create [what I feel] is worthy content, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. But this feels like a bit more than a block. It’s not so much like I haven’t had ideas, I always have ideas floating around in my head. It’s just that when I sit to start a blog post, there’s nothing there. And I end up looking for fashion inspiration and doing a post about that instead. 

That pilot script for my own television show I’ve been meaning to write since I was in high school has yet to get started. My short story series “On The Run” I started back in March, has been on a halt. Every time I start a series, I end up going on a hiatus for a longer time than I should. It’s like I lose momentum, or I’m just too lazy to take the time to finish. Sometimes I can have a great story idea and I will even jot it down, but I never write it up. Often times just the thought of sitting at a computer for hours drumming out a story, just is too much of a tall order and I decide against it and instead decide to watch my favorite tv shows and obsess over the love stories of my favorite couples. (*hint hint* Dear Michelle, but what about YOUR characters, what about their love stories.) Not to mention that my blog posting schedule has been all over the place lately. Ugh, I hate when that happens, I really do.

It’s terrible to have to feel the guilt of finally admitting to myself that I am a writer and then feeling as though I’ve bailed on it completely. I feel like I’ve been struggling with inspiration lately. As I mentioned this has happened before and I’ve pushed through it, so I know I will this time too. But it doesn’t make it any easier, to go through it. Sure life gets busy and it becomes easy to neglect our passions. But I imagine creative people with creative souls go through this vicious cycle every now and again. I’ve seen the many YouTubers talk all about it. It’s just a funk.

In fact a quote by Anne Tyler comes to mind in this moment while I sit and ponder why a writer doesn’t want to write…

“If I waited til I felt like writing, I’d never write at all.”

That’s what it is. I’ve just been waiting. Waiting to have time. Waiting to feel less tired. Waiting to get everything just so, in my head BEFORE writing it down on the page. Waiting for inspiration to strike. Waiting- to write. The truth is the only thing that is going to help me break this bullshit streak, is just to nip it in the bud and write. Just write. Even if it sucks. And start the scripts I’ve been writing in my head for basically half my life.

Who knows maybe this post was my therapy. Writing this post is like my version of a girl going through a bad breakup who decides to burn all her exes pictures and letters. Haha. I find that when something is getting to me and feels like a weight on my back-pushing me down, preventing me from reaching my full potential and I write a blog post about it, it’s kind of like me releasing it into the world and admitting it to myself and realizing that it’s something that either just needed to be said, or something that I feel I need to spend my time working on and improving. For the past year and half I have put so much work into bettering myself and conquering my anxiety over certain aspects in my life. This is currently the main issue I need to put my focus on. I have faith that I can conquer this one too. Hey I’ve done it before. I can certainly do it again- only this time, I’m going to do it better.

And for anyone dealing with their own personal writer’s slump, may your pen be mightier than that sword you feel has pierced your creative soul.

*I do not take credit for the image used.*

-<3-