For this week's blog, I figured I’d do a question-and-answer. I posted a questionnaire on my story asking my followers if there were any questions they’d want answered or topics they’d like me to discuss. What better way to reach real-life people than directly asking them? In this blog I’ll be answering 7 questions from my story and in part two, I’ll be answering Kean’s very own students’ questions.
How do you stay creative while having a busy life?
I can really relate to this question and I think everyone in this generation can too because we’re always on the go, and always supposed to be productive. We’re constantly on social media seeing what everyone else is doing and how busy they are. With such a fast-paced life, it’s hard to maintain your creativity/endeavors while also finding alone time. It’s easy to feel stressed about all your obligations, feel like you can’t keep up, and feel overwhelmed about one day not doing anything. I would consider myself a busy person. I work a part-time job as a server, I'm in an internship, I do school full-time, and still find time to nourish my creativity. How do I do all that?
The answer is…priorities. I had to ask myself one day, what keeps me going? Being creative, playing, and submitting my poetry were at the top of my list. So then I asked, well what’s the point of everything else if they weren’t my answer? I’m in school for something I’d love to do in the future and it’s an essential part of life to make money. I’m working part-time to support myself and everything that matters. These are things I have to do so I started scheduling and planning my week when it pertained to those things and seeing whatever space I had for myself. I’d talk to my manager about my schedule and was honest with myself about how much I could handle with everything else. I started planning when I’d do my homework, chores, etc. It was from there that I realized I had free time and instead of going on my phone, I set the intention to be creative because it’s just as important as all the other things.
I allow myself to be creative without judgment. Whether that’s dancing, painting, or writing, I do it because I love it and have time. Prioritize what means a lot to you, set intentions, get a calendar, and plan things out. Most importantly, be kind to yourself while adjusting to having a busy life. I’m sure it’s for a reason!
What drives your passion?
Reminding myself why I'm doing what I'm passionate about. Passion is that feeling of excitement and determination that helps you finish what you’ve always wanted to do. I hear many people say that they have lost their passion. I think it’s important to remember just like everything else, feelings come and go. If we were to always rely on how we ‘feel’, we’d almost never feel like doing anything. “I don’t feel like going to work”, “I don’t feel like doing homework”, “I don’t feel like hanging out with friends right now”, “I feel like my passion is gone and I don’t know how to get it back” or something along the lines of “I feel sad”, “I feel unmotivated.” Notice the common thread of all of these statements is targeted to how we feel. As humans, we’re meant to feel all different kinds of emotions. Add negative thoughts to that like, “What’s the point?”, “If I’m not feeling it, I won’t do it”, “I’m not good enough”, of course, our passion will die. Reminding yourself why you’re passionate about something is cultivating it and self-discipline. It’s deciding to go on with something for long-term benefit.
Not always relying on how I feel, doing things to bring my passion back, and self-discipline, always does the job for me. Also, not to be an astrology junkie but, I’m an Aries. We’re known for our passion and leadership. Whenever my passion feels lost I find that it doesn’t stay gone forever. Figure out what works specifically for you and I promise you’ll feel it, passion never truly leaves you.
When did you start getting into writing and are you in school for it?
I started getting into writing, as something I could do professionally when I was seventeen years old. I had a writing assignment where we had to write a poem and also draw a sketch to go with it. That was in my English class and I didn’t know that poetry, school, and literature could be serious but also fulfilling. It was from there that I started to read books and realize people made money from writing. I started taking my writing seriously, posting it on social media, and submitting it to publishers. My first published poem was one I wrote when I was 17 called Kissing the Moon and it was published in a book called The Sunflower of Love on Amazon, https://www.amazon.in/Sunflower-Love-collection-words-love-ebook/dp/B09X32KWX2/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=6f51c472-2ed2-44fb-8047-834e646c0c01. The responses I get from people mean a lot to me while also making me feel less alone in whatever I write about.
I’ve loved writing in general since the third grade. I remember my teacher coming up to me and she set me aside from the rest of the class. She pointed at a desk and told me to “just write.” I didn’t know why at the time but I didn’t care, I was more than happy to do it. I wrote about my time at Dorney Park with my brother and it ended up being pages long. I later found out that it was for a gifted and talented school. My teacher told my mom she noticed my talent for writing and I just felt so ecstatic. At the time, I was in a program to help me out more with school. I wasn’t learning anything as fast enough as the other kids so every day they’d pull me and three others to a separate classroom. Everyone knew why and I felt so incapable of being smart. That was the first time I can recall being good at something and feeling proud of myself.
I am in school for writing. My major is English with a writing emphasis but I plan on double majoring as I have more than one passion.
What’s the next book you want to read?
I’m currently really interested in realistic fiction. I find that every time I read one it somehow relates exactly to what I’m going through. The next on my list is Writers and Lovers by Lily King. It’s about an aspiring writer as she tries to move from one phase of her life to the next while dealing with grief, joy, romance, and artistic fulfillment. I also want to read Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong, a poetry book by one of my all-time favs. If you’ve read any of these, let me know! Or we can read/talk about them together :).
What’s the hardest part about writing?
I think, for me, it would be the aftermath. Not trusting what you wrote, feeling like you need an editor to go over every single sentence, and not knowing whether people will resonate with it or not. The hardest part about anything would be anxiety about people’s reactions. It’s something so beyond your control, yet it still affects you so much. A couple of years ago I would’ve said writer’s block or the lack of passion but as I’ve talked about in many blogs, I was able to overcome those. To do things that helped me move through them and just the acknowledgment that it’s a common thing. So yeah, I’m definitely working on trusting whatever writing comes out of me and leaving people’s responses to the natural way of life. Your creativity, at the end of the day, is no one’s but your own.
How do you get out of a reading slump?
I find it to be almost the same way to get out of a writing slump or any creative blocks. You can find tips in my two blogs, https://thewritersblockkeanenglish.blogspot.com/2023/07/how-to-get-out-of-writing-block-pt1.html, https://thewritersblockkeanenglish.blogspot.com/2023/07/how-to-get-out-of-writing-slump-pt2.html. The only difference, I’d say, would be to ask yourself why? Why am I feeling resistant to reading? What has happened recently in my life that could’ve affected this? Am I judging this, causing more resistance? For me, I notice I’m going through a reading slump after I’ve read a book I loved or hated. When I love a book, I need time before I read another one because I get so attached to the characters. If I’ve just read a book I hate, I feel like I wasted time and become kind of annoyed. It could also be the simple fact that life got busy. Some things that help me are, not reading anything until I’m ready, reading something way shorter than a novel like a quick poetry book or short story, interesting articles, etc.
7. What’re your favorite ways to tap into your creativity?
Being present in everyday life. If you take the time to be present in all things that you’re doing, whether that’s having a conversation, noticing how you feel during the day, or being outside with the earth, you’ll see there’s inspiration all around you. The thing that inspires me the most would be nature because it’s what grounds me. I realized I tap into my creativity easier when I’m grounded and not stressed or judging myself. It’s a pretty straightforward concept that takes work but is so worth it. Whenever I try to purposely write, nothing comes out. My creativity is most apparent when I’m just chilling in the moments of everyday life.
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