Is Writing Seasonal?

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven

– (Ecclesiastes 3:1) 

The last few weeks have been wonderful. If being stuck in an oven and dying can be described in such a way. Every time I have attempted to sit down and switch the revision brain on – which in my opinion is a super version of your brain fueled by coffee – my muse cries out in agony.

Therefore I have come to the conclusion:

Heatwaves kills muses…and revision super brain powers.

Where does that leave me then? With no super brain powers it seems. What if I was a real author on a real deadline? What would I tell my editor? I’m tanning against my will? As lame as that sounds, that reason isn’t exactly a lie. There is a high probability that my makeup will not match my face on my wedding day…but I digress.

Where was I? That’s right. Dead muse.

I am at my most focused in winter. My focus and motivation is so razor sharp I have been told people are afraid to approach me. I would like that focus back, but how?

I.

Am.

Melting.

As much as I would love to move to the Arctic right now – or even Antarctica because that is logistically closer – I can’t help but feel it will not fix the problem at hand.

If I choose to be honest with myself right now, my current writing predicament has a lot to do with mindset. I am just not at the right level of focus for revision right now and I have decided that is okay because I believe my creativity is being nurtured in other ways. More importantly, I strongly believe all my writing goals are still very possible.

Although I am not actively editing my current WIP, I see it so much more clearly. The world sparkles and scenes that I hated are rewriting themselves like a movie in my mind. Two fresh story ideas have unveiled themselves to me and I am excited for the words that will be written, revised and hopefully submitted this year.

Seasons follow a cycle and to a degree, I believe creativity follows its own seasons too. I needed my own creative heatwave to remember what it’s like to feel excited about the process again and to be reminded revision is only one of the many seasons that creates a story.

How does it work for you? Is writing seasonal?

Love and light,

Anushka xx