Well, here we are. We’ve reached February and already my plan to blog at least once a month in 2021 has not happened. I had every intention of writing something, but between finding the energy, a busy work schedule, and my MacBook deciding to break again, it became more of a ‘best-laid plans’ scenario…
There was also the small issue regarding the few paragraphs I did manage to jot down – and that was that I hated every single one of them, so they quickly hit the recycle bin.
One could argue that I could have half-heartedly thrown something together and posted it with an “eh, it’ll do” attitude, but I couldn’t do that; it’s not who I am as a person or a writer and if I’m not happy with my writing and don’t want to read it, I certainly wouldn’t expect anyone else to read it either.
I do tend to be a bit of a perfectionist. No matter what, I’ll strive for quality over quantity every time (which I like to think is great), but it also means I constantly put pressure on myself to be better.
I am trying not to be so hard on myself, but it’s not always easy.
Take this blog post for example: today, I finally knew what I wanted to write. It was one of those moments writers have when everything just clears in your mind and you can picture the words; the sentences you’ll write and how they structure the piece… I felt enthused and uber positive – and then I finished the above paragraph and the doubts started to creep in and I had to literally sit back down at my desk and tell myself to just write.
So, here I am. Writing.
I’ve been thinking about my writing a lot lately: the different features and projects I’ve been a part of over the years; and how some of my best work has occurred when I’ve either been trusted, or trusted myself, to just run with an idea. When I have been given the freedom to write what I want and ultimately been fortunate enough to then share these works with readers.
I love writing about things I love; it doesn’t necessarily make my writing endeavours easier – especially when I have to write as a neutral observer, but I’ll always try and put my own voice and style into my work.
This is part of the reason why I started this blog; yes, I wanted it to be a place to showcase some of my previous work, but it was also to be a platform where I could write about the things I wanted to away from work. I’ve said this before, but writing is a key part of my job and when you have to do it virtually all day, every day for a living, it’s nice to have somewhere – and something – different to write for fun afterwards.
But the past year hasn’t exactly been fun – for any of us – and while creative writing would be my way to escape from the real world for a while, I struggled to find that escapism during lockdown. Instead, some of the things that helped me through the rough days were podcasts or music or virtual conventions; it was baking or gardening or revamping my bedroom furniture; it was binge-watching TV shows with my sister or making a dent in my shamefully large pile of unread books from my bookshelf. All of these became my “lockdown loves”, so I thought I’d dip my toes back into writing for 2021 and use my blog as a way to throw some light on the people and projects whose work/art/talent I have freely been able to enjoy this past year. They’ve all brought me many hours of happiness and sanity in an otherwise crazy world, and the least I can do is say thank you to these wonderful creators, and continue to share their work with others.
So, keep an eye out for the first in my “Lockdown Loves” series – hopefully next week!
Until then, please continue to take care of yourselves and each other, and stay safe.
Jac xx