Question of the Month: How has your creativity in life evolved since you began writing? 

Today is another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. You can also visit the founder Alex J. Cavanaugh for more info and links.

Great question this month. I hope my creativity has evolved, gotten stronger, more mature, and yet kept the hopefulness and playfulness of youth. I worry that my creativity will harden and crystallize, like arthritic knees, but I won’t let it. I choose to stay fluid. It helps that I work with young people. I teach piano lessons and theater workshops. I use writing and creating as part of the process, and I am always inspired by their youthful enthusiasm. It keeps the kid in me alive. 

One year, during the A to Z Blogfest, Alex J. Cavanaugh wrote about me on the day for the letter P. Partly for Play off the Page, but he also said that I was “playful.” It’s one of my favorite compliments as a writer. Thanks, Alex.

This year’s IWSG Anthology contest is in the genre of YA Romance, with Masquerade as the theme. My first thought was, Can I capture the voice of YA? I’m not much of a romance writer, but the Masquerade theme kept talking to me. It gave me a sense of mystery and intrigue. So, I listened to the voices in my head. And, yes, they were young adults getting into trouble online, making and breaking relationships, and not always portraying themselves in a true light. I wrote it, submitted it, and now sit back and wait to see if it gets selected. My story, “One More Minute” is in the 2018 Anthology, Tick Tock: A Stitch in Crime. You never know unless you try.

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt: Where are you at in your creative life? Fluid, Crystallized? Trying something new, or sticking to the tried and true. Whatever it is, I wish you tremendous success!