Growth Director @ Grantica | Research Lead @ Trans+ History Week | Committed to Bringing All the Letters around the Table | LGBTQIA+ | Aut | Research Nerd | Content Writing, Project Managing, All-Around Crafty Person
I love what I do, but man do I miss spending my days writing. The problem is that, unless you’re that one in a million, you’re not making bank on your writing. And it turns out that kids have expensive taste. With a combination of chronic illness and autism, I’m often wrecked when 5pm rolls around. Then begins the delicate dance of kids’ extracurriculars, making sure everyone is fed-and-bed at a reasonable time, and planning for the next day … I’m lucky if I can even click onto Netflix before I’m just done. Being on leave for surgery recovery right now has brought things into focus. I’m still failing to do for me. I keep wanting to write, sew, paint, build, CREATE. I have tools I’ve barely touched. I have bare canvas folded up in drawers. I want to DO. And I want to foster this feeling. I want to invest in me. In the spaces and tasks where I thrive. Has anyone take ‘creative leave’ from work, like a mini sabbatical? How do you protect your time? How do you make sure you don’t just stay in your pyjamas and order takeaway (unless that’s your process, in which case I’ll take a gravy chip)? How do you discipline your time so it is spent on your art? I have 25,000 words of the latest manuscript I promised myself I’d finish in 2023 that I’d like to convince not to give up on me just yet. Image description: A rainbow-coloured background with a white cloud in the centre that reads “Everything changes when you decide to stop abandoning yourself”. Art by Katie Abey