I Had Intentions… Creativity sometimes flows in a different direction
I had a story to tell…
When we decided to try out RV life for a couple of years or so, I had all of these dreams (intentions) of, “I am going to do that…” My creative outlet was going to EXPLODE! But, many intentions did not happen for one reason or another. It seemed like the creative self I envisioned fizzled — or had other ideas.
On the top of my intention list was to finish my next book. I had started the story back in 2017 after seeing an artist friend’s painting and told her it would make a great book cover she said, “so write it.” I took that challenge and started the story. It moved along at a nice clip until I started a new job. It has been sitting on the back burner for years now, and I thought I would have time to work on it when we hit the road. I was wrong.
Sunday Houston slammed the vehicle into park. It was Sunday morning, not quite 8:00 am, no coffee yet, and she was not happy about getting called in on her first day off in weeks. She had been burning the midnight oil and was just about done with the budget for the next city council meeting, something she really detested about her job as Sheriff.
My dream has always been to be an author. Storytelling (fiction) I am pretty good at, but grammar and the mechanics are a weakness, so around 2010, I joined a writers group and local writing club. I self-published a few short story ebooks on Amazon and then my first novel, The Bloodstone Queen, in 2016. But that same year, I had started a new job, my writing group members were busy, and our stories and the group slowly faded into the background.
When we hit the road, I had every intention of working on my new story, completing it, and putting my next book out. I had every intention, but it was just that — an intention. After years of stress from a thankless job, I needed downtime to de-stress. I did not have the mental energy to write my character’s stories. I found my characters were also not ready for their stories to be told.
Lately, they have been resurfacing with little snippets, I think they may be almost ready to continue. And, I just may be ready to tell it.
Sunday sunk onto her couch, clutching her wine class as if it was a lifeline. Too tired to eat, too tired to sleep, she settled instead to vegetate for a few moments. It’s been almost 5 years since she last saw him, since she walked away, leaving without an explanation. A tornado of emotions twirled inside her — the dead fetus, the murdered women, and now Trey. Emotions she thought were finally deeply buried kept inching to the surface, she tried to squelch them but they were persistent little buggers. When she saw the fetus yesterday, she lost it but she was able to make it back to the numbness that had been her companion these past years, but with Trey, if she lost it now, she may not make it back at all this time.
My next intention was to start a YouTube Channel. After years of watching and studying other YouTubers, I was ready to join the ranks. Turned out I wasn’t. Just like my book, I found I wasn’t quite ready yet. What was our story for YouTube? What could we offer that wasn’t already out there? What did I want to share? Then there was the time commitment — nope I was not ready.
I have always wanted to start a Podcast. Same as YouTube… what did I have to say?
Creativity sometimes flows in a different direction
Then there was Blogging… this intention was the only intention that took a foothold and continued. I quickly found my voice — the voice of a newbie in the massive RV world. RV life is often glamorized, but its reality is not often shared. I felt as if some information was missing. Experienced RVers have so much to share, but what works for them does not necessarily work for us newbies.
I found blogging satisfied a few of my creative needs
1. To tell stories.
2. To share my ideas, my challenges, my experiences, and my photos.
3. My need to write.
My husband and I have been self-employed for years, and marketing was just part of the job. Today’s tools help tell a great story, but it has also exploded the market with a massive amount of information and stories, often making it difficult to stand out. I often told clients try not to be all things to all people, to limit their message to a few platforms, and become good at those before starting another one. I needed to heed my advice.
As we started this journey, Facebook was a given. I had been with that platform since it started. I used to manage close to twenty Facebook pages for businesses and non-profits. I was familiar with it. For me, it is a way to stay connected, a way to meet others, it is my social life, and a creative outlet.
I have always had a variety of interests so my “friends” list is very diverse, and so are my Posts, making for an interesting Facebook account.
Whether it is information, what we are up to, or photos — I love to share.
Instagram, like Facebook, was another platform to stay connected and share. Of course, Betty Jo (the Airstream) had to have her account, she loves to share her adventures. Check her out at @bettyjotheairstream.
Photography has been a part of me since 2008, as our journey grew, so did my interest in photos. With the new iPhone and the need to capture our moments to share with family and friends, my creative self exploded with Facebook and Instagram photos.
Creativity will always find new directions. It will expand my current creative outlets, bring back some of the old, and introduce some new ones. I just did need to learn to go with the flow.
I had intentions — I still do. Patience will help the stories unfold, so will time.
