8.28.20

On Obstacles

These two creatures are my biggest obstacles to creativity. I could pretend that parenting two mildly insane humans with Y chromosomes has made me a better writer but that would be an aggressive lie. They have made me a more tired, more grumpy, less hygienic writer. But a better one? Yeah, no.

We all have our own obstacles to creativity. Mine are my sons who speak in outside voices all the time and never sleep, the uncomfortableness of the chair I sit in to write, and my day job (which I love very much! Please don’t fire me!). I used to imagine a day when someone would pay me lots of money to write full time and I’d bang out words for eight hours a day in a luxury ergonomic chair in an beautiful, neutral toned private office (with a view!) I don’t anymore. Ten years in, I’ve come to terms with the fact that I might always be sitting in a plastic Adirondack chair when I write. I’ve accepted — honestly with a fair amount of joy — that committing to the creative life means working through the obstacles not waiting until they go away to “become a real writer.” You’re a real writer wherever you are, even with the crazy kids and the cheap chair and the day job you can’t afford to quit. Embrace it. Own it. And invest in some noise canceling headphones, stat.