Blessing and Curse

I recently had lunch with a friend who is in the middle of writing her second novel. I don't know much about it other than it has given her a reason to learn a lot about the Warsaw ghetto during World War II and also the tapestries of Bayeux. (Sounds like my kind of project.) I asked how the book was going.

"It's fine. I expect it to have the same commercial success as the first." She laughed out loud. Because, of course, her first novel has not yet found a home in the publishing world.

She continued, "Aren't we lucky that we like the process so much?"

I nodded and smiled and hoped that she was right. I've always thought of myself as a happy "process writer" -- someone who gets enjoyment from the act of putting pen to paper even if it never leads to a published work I can hold in my hand and give to someone. But of late it's seemed more of a burden.

I've been having such a hard time writing. I'm preoccupied with my new office and my creative energy is being heavily used in things like logo design, decisions on websites, etc. But if I don't manage to sit down and write a bit, even if just a few times a week, I feel pretty uneven and eventually unhappy.

So -- for how long can I get away with just doing free-writing and, if I'm lucky, odd character sketches and potential background scenes for longer projects I am working on?

A wise friend has suggested that I try to shake myself up and do some drawing every time I sit down to write. I have never thought of myself as much of a visual artist - not in the "Oh, my God, I can't even draw a circle" way but more in the shruggy "it's just not something I've ever been attracted to" variety. I went ahead and bought a bunch of colored markers, which was great fun, and I have gone ahead and done a few odd little drawings that did lead to some free writing. But I'm not at all sure about any of this.