Hello Everyone!
I was originally planning to do another book review today but, for some reason, the 9th book in the Harley Merlin series has become a lot harder to find. It’s no longer on Amazon or kindle and it doesn’t seem to be available through Chapters as well. I tried buying another book off of Amazon but, unfortunately, when it arrived it turned out to be the wrong version of the book. Admittedly I probably should expand where I usually buy my books from.
My mini rant over, the last month since the previous update has been rather interesting. I had gone camping believing that it would renew my creativity and my sense of purpose and inspiration. However when I got back I found nothing had really changed. My work ethic was still the same and I found I was no more inspired or motivated than how I was before the trip. I was able to do a bit of writing and wrote a chapter and a half but realistically speaking it wasn’t really as inspiring or as reinvigorating as I thought it would be.
This isn’t to say that the experience wasn’t good. It was my first time going camping and I had a really fun and enjoyable time. The problem was more my expectation of what it was and what it would do for me afterward. Perhaps the problem is more that, because I focus my life on my writing first and foremost, everything else feels like it needs to help drive inspiration and motivation to further my writing. The thing is, for myself, I don’t actually know if that’s a problem or not.
I’ve always lived life with the goal of doing what makes me happy, creating stories of adventures and lives I could never live, and to live a life I never feel I need to take a vacation to escape from. To that end, there’s always a nagging thought in my head whenever I do something that will take a long time whether or not it will help me achieve those goals. To that end, I know that furthering my writing, developing my artistic ability, and reading and writing book reviews has helped me to achieve these goals. But my mind is easily distracted and it’s hard to grasp that feeling of invigoration and motivation to keep working away at these goals.
But this weekend my friends and I visited a mini artist convention. To put it simply, it was more of an expanded artist alley you would find in larger conventions. This was purely for artists to sell posters, postcards, standies, keychains, and other pieces of fanart or original artwork they had created. These artist alleys are always my favorite part of any convention as I love getting art posters and trinkets of my favorite games, shows, etc. But this time was different. Walking up and down the lanes of this artist convention made me feel inspired to see other creatives succeed in their goals and aspirations. They worked hard to develop their skills and stayed focused to get to where they are. It helped to see that to know that I could work hard on my own goals. I don’t need to be successful by the classic definition (make lots of money) but to know that I was able to create something at the end of the day. To me, seeing other creators flourish and work hard drives me to do the best that I can and that surprised me in a good way.
There’s work to be done and I am very inspired and motivated to actually do it. In a way, what motivates and reinvigorates one person doesn’t necessarily do the same for everyone. It is good to experiment and see what works for you at the end of the day. I’m still grateful for the experience of camping and to know what it was like and what it does for me, but it doesn’t reinvigorate me like it does for others. For me, seeing other people’s hard work and their creations is what inspires and motivates me to be the best that I can be.
Hope this helps!
– Raphael
Raph's Cozy Musings 