Now that I’ve tried just about every kind of jewelry making there is, I’m planning to weed out everything but supplies for the kind of jewelry I’d still like to make. And I’m going to try not to buy any more stuff. That way I’ll have something to distract myself with if I need it, but not so much stuff it distracts me when I don’t want it to. At least that’s the plan.

Round I went until writing was something I just squeezed in when the mood struck. I spent some months wrapping up a bunch of my old projects (i.e. finishing a big huge scrapbook I was working on), and discarded just about everything. Oh I still keep some baubles and glue on hand, and when time allows, I’d really like to get back to that guitar.

I think it was the conscious act of relinquishing such distractions which allowed my writing to come to the front burner and that directly led to my attempting to make a career out of it. We’ll see how that goes (I’m hopeful). Other than music, I really don’t miss all that stuff, and I’d much rather read than make beads anyway. I say if you love beading, stick with it. There’s no reason a person can’t have multiple hobbies. It just wasn’t working for me because I had far too many of them.

I’ve often thought of dropping everything else to focus on writing. Then again, I’ve thought of dropping my attempts at writing to focus on making jewelry.

Sometimes I get bored with the hobby I’ve been obsessing about and just need to do something different. Something creative, but different from what I’ve been doing. I think changing my creative focus helps keep me fresh and stretches my creative muscles. So I’m reluctant to completely drop a hobby I’ve enjoyed as much as jewelry, but I’m sure I’ll pare it down considerably.

I do end up feeling torn among so many creative desires, so I certainly understand why you dropped your hobbies. Thanks for your thoughts.

Melissa Donovan
Writing Forward

Yes, the light gray text is first on my list of things to change. Thanks for mentioning it though.