Finding time amid the trials

There have been countless moments this year where I have had words that needed to be said, actions that needed to be completed, and goals that were set and accomplished to various degrees of success and failure. Unfortunately, the amount of time I have to pour into every creative aspect of myself as an artist has been even more limited since I have decided to take my writing into the realm of a functioning business. I have been failing to find the balance between my various worlds. That being my personal life, my professional work life (for those unfamiliar, I manage hotel accommodations and mass communications for a very well-known private social club), and my hobby, which is now much more – this site, physical book sales, Amazon listings, contest entries, etc. So there have, on occasion, been months and months between postings on this site. In my opinion, this has to change. I understand that I have said this before – but one can not consider themselves a writer unless words have hit a page.

Which, to be fair to me, is something that I am still undertaking frequently, although not to the level which I expect from myself, and in a far less public manner. In previous years I would post poems, short stories, and the like here on SFwordsmith.com without a care in the world. This site was my playground where I could be myself and frolic in the worlds I had created on the page. With the experience of publishing The Sunday Stories under my belt, that free-flowing content structure changed.

As I enter more of my work into contests and hope that someone somewhere will see me screaming into the void and hear my words for what they are – a creative who wants desperately to devote his life to his craft – I am limited by the fact that putting my work on this site is, by definition, publishing that work, invalidating it in the eyes of contest judges, book agents, and publishers alike who are looking for first dibs on any material submitted. That is simply the world we live in, where a creative talent must hide his best work from the world until the time is right for someone to profit from it. Long gone are the days when a patron of the arts would spend money supporting artists solely for the appreciation of the product they created.

Now we live in a world of commodified products, where the creator is a brand head responsible for the production as well as the underlying business behind it. I am no longer just a writer but a salesman, accountant, web developer, logistics and shipping personnel, marketing executive, and a published and public figurehead to a company still very much in its startup phase. All while also having to work 50-60 hours a week in a day job that doesn’t fulfill my soul’s need for a creative outlet.

So what can one do when faced with a situation like that? I am not sure I have the answer for that. My day-to-day goal is simply progression. Constantly improve my station in life. Tweak my website. Streamline the business. Set simple goals. Get myself to a position where I can eventually eke out more and more time for my craft. Which leads me to – how can I take the underlying passion – creating – and turn that into something that someone somewhere might latch onto? My answer to this has always been one of long-term thinking. I do not think of this journey in the day-to-day, week-to-week grind but rather in the year-over-year, and decade upon decade progression. Am I better off this year than I was last? Yes. I have a published book of Flash Fiction that I could show anyone who wants to know who I am as a writer. That is an accomplishment that can never be taken away from me. I also have an ever-growing portfolio of creative works which will one day be looked upon as one of immense creative value, regardless of whether or not someone decides to publish it or not. For me, that has always been the driving force behind it. Create to create, not to make money, gain followers, or whatever perceived positive reinforcement most people need to keep pursuing their talents. To be a writer is simply to write, which I have been doing since I was a teenager in my dark bedroom, writing love songs about muses I would never know. It’s why even now, I try and find inspiration in my own life amid the trials and tribulations that come with existing here on this green Earth. Even if I am never known, I will know that I gave everything I could to produce content worthy of this life I have been given.

But with that comes a responsibility also. You have to put yourself out there. You have to allow the world to see you. You have to allow your voice to be heard by the people who need to hear it. You have to set deadlines for yourself that are not just the ones that span decades. One must not constantly look toward the future to truly live in the moment. So in that regard, I will pledge to live more in the present. I will think more along the lines of – What am I doing today? What is on track for tomorrow? To that end, I am committing myself to establish a consistent posting schedule and managing my time more effectively to showcase my other skills and passions – photography, tech, gaming, print design, and more. You will see my name more frequently in the future, whoever you are on that side of the screen. Mark my words.

Thanks for your time until then,

Spencer Spalding

SFwordsmith.com

Photo by Robert Bye on Unsplash