Writing On
This post is sponsored by Grammarly. Sometimes I use Grammarly for proofreading because occasionally, you just need to be reminded that you’re not crazy: English is.
I have a problem. I’m basically married to the Most Interesting Man in the World. He’s a walking hobby: sketching, woodburning, carpentry, biking, fishing, hunting, running, golf, basketball, add in some handy survival skills and a healthy dose of curiosity and Adam’s lucky he has time to do anything but hobby it up.
This leaves me sometimes feeling a bit uninteresting, because, well – I like to cook. I ride horses when I get the opportunity, I paint my nails sometimes and I get pretty excited when a new magazine comes in the mail. And I write. The trouble is, I also write for a living. So my only real, quantifiable, useful hobby is also my job, which means that by the end of the workday, my hobbies are really laying on the couch with Real Simple and contemplating nail polish. Sounds fun, right?
I’ve been considering how to fix this – how to stay inspired when the day-to-day dronings of my mind seem overwhelming and it’s much more tempting to flip someone else’s pages than create something of my own – and that’s where Jane comes in. I bought this little piece of wisdom at a shop in downtown Bend, and it hangs above my desk, egging me on when I don’t feel clever, when I can’t string two words together, when I convince myself that mediocre is my destiny.
Sometimes, even when we have a grand passion, something to say burning within us – we still have to put one foot in front of the other. We still have to write on until the humor comes or doesn’t, passes or grows, staying true to a calling and not a feeling. My husband does a lot of interesting and creative things and he has enough hobbies for both of us, but I’m happy with a good cookbook, a long walk and some inspired words that are all my own, even if the work of “writing on” is slow or daunting.