New Season New Energy

On feeling a new creative and productive energy

I have felt a wave of energy the last few days. It feels like both a creative energy and a productive one.

I can’t entirely dismiss the possibility that this is largely down to getting through and coming out the other end of a really busy period. A period when I have frequently been working 12-hour days and almost always some or much of the weekend. A period when I have felt behind for ages.

In the whole sharing the joys and pains of freelance life, I will tell you that this was down to me having planned really well for work that would balance and fill working weeks up until September, with just the occasional (by the way, I can’t spell that word without checking; I have been an editor for decades and know words and language quite well,  but ‘occasionally’ is one of my spelling block words) week where I would have to do a few extra hours.

And then two different tasks ended up expanding waaaaaaay beyond the original estimated scope. One went from what should have been a couple of days to about two weeks and another from about three days to just over a week.

Which is one of the reasons why freelancers need to block out time beyond the estimated hours and the day rates. We need leeway built in to the rates we charge to account for that, and time so that there is space for tasks to expand or schedules to slip. (And, actually, we also need to push back on scope creep. A lot. Rather than just sucking it up as part of the business. Our rates may seem high at first, but when this happens we can end up working way below minimum wage and barely seeing our families.  That’s no good.)

So, I definitely can’t dismiss the effect of coming through and out of that period. But I don’t think it’s just that. Because what is approaching and already being trailed and hinted at by the weather in the UK, is a change of season. Summer feels like it’s on its way out (though I think we may still have a couple of weeks of it after this little hint) and autumn on its way in.

There are fruit falling from the trees. Some of the leaves are hinting at their orange and red future. The temperature has dipped a fair bit, to the point where I have pulled out my socks and trainers – the sandals are still around though. And I’m craving jacket potatoes and soups slightly more than salads and wraps.

And the start of the academic year is approaching, too. I am a lifelong learner and almost constantly in a class or membership, but it feels like these are ramping up. And we have teenagers heading out to new school and college ventures in a couple of weeks, so the rhythm of the household will return to some extent (albeit not quite to what we are used to as one only has three days of college a week and the other will be trialling a mixture of online and in-person learning for health reasons). But I will get back to my days being somewhat framed by school and college timetables, which I find helps give me balance.

And suddenly I feel full of productive creative energy, rather than my creativity feeling like my only breathing space and my mindfulness practice.

I am embarking on a new daily drawing project, getting back to A to Zs which filled me with joy and kept me accountable. I have a really good idea of where I want to focus my energies and task lists and small goals to help me do so.

I am rocking up to the sofa in the morning with planned drawing, writing, reading, learning tasks, rather than the need to just flump in front of social media feeds and articles and columns. I am feeling a sense of satisfaction when I sit at my publishing desk, because I have already accomplished something (or some things) before I get there.

And I am feeling the call of exercise again. I haven’t answered yet, but I think I may well do so from next week. Walking, yoga, and hopefully swimming, too. I also want to try to get some weight training of some kind in there, though not sure how to do that. We have a weight bench in the basement, but it’s set up with much much bigger weights than I can even consider.

I have a couple of new pieces I want to add to my portfolio and then a new mailing plan, focusing on targeting publishers of children’s non-fiction, as well as grown-up cookery and lifestyle. And these mailings will go out at the start of September with the hope that I might catch someone in time to get work booked in for later autumn or early winter.

I have not done brilliantly at this so far this year, to be honest. But I am again feeling the energy to dig down again and am going to take some of the trend advice from the microstock libraries and create some new patterns and motifs to upload there, concentrating on simple stylised motifs and icons, and especially on patterns made from them. And I am going to make a point of uploading new patterns to Patternbank regularly (again, using their trends as a focus).

I have made a list with at least two options for each letter, though some of them are a little dubious!

And I have started grabbing reference photos. I’m not sure whether I’ll just start as soon as I have all the reference photos – or even half of them. Or whether I want to start on a significant day, like 1 September, or the first Monday in September, or the first day of school term.

Do you get an energy (creative or productive, or both) from season changes? Does the start of the school year still make you feel like you’re having a fresh start (whether or not you have kids)? Are you doing some goal resets?

Here are some sketches where I am working out ideas for new illustrations and lettering for the name change – and I am pretty certain it will be Illustrated Life. Watch this space as I intend to make the change at the start of September, which means NEXT NEWSLETTER!

Along with the name change, I’ll be trying to be a bit clearer about what I write about here, with an About page update and perhaps tidying up the menu at the top (which won’t matter a jot to you if you only read this in your inbox!). I think I’ll take out the Adobe Fresco section, because I’m not especially feeling the call to write tutorials and the like. Maybe one day I will. I’d like to keep this a more personal newsletter/blog that shares my experiences with (mid)life, with a particular emphasis on freelance life, travel and my illustration business. And interspersed with lots of pictures and colourful hand-lettered headings!

I’ll also be aiming to put more illustrations into these, including (as I have done above) picking elements from existing work that fits what I’m writing about and not necessarily creating new illustrations every single week.

I’ll share regular updates on the search for perennial income, along with intermittent new work and any particular news about my illustration business. But I’ll also share (more general) struggles and positives of my other freelance business, and the challenges and joys of juggling two businesses with a family, two cats and a travel bug.

And I’ll be continuing to not paywall anything here, while keeping the option to pay open. If you enjoy my writing and pictures, and look forward to your Sunday injection of illustrated life in your inbox, then please do consider upgrading to paid. Or sharing with other people you think might enjoy it.