March is here and Spring is so close I can smell it! Birds strut around and flowers bloom, heralding the time for rebirth. New grass and weeds carpet the ground and fruit trees sprinkle the air with delicate blooms. I do love living in Georgia where we have our version of four seasons - winter, early summer, summer, and late summer.
For those of you who know me, don't faint, but I was actually tossing some articles I've saved from older Writer's Digest magazines. One that caught my attention dealt with focus.
Focus. Now that word can send chills to my heart. I'm not the kind of person who maintains focus in many areas of my life. I certainly can't keep my focus on cleaning. I don't focus well on organizing or filing.
At different times in our lives we need to focus on different things.
From the time I discovered the bookmobile, I focused on reading. (A bookmobile is a traveling library. I was in first grade and suffering from withdrawal pains. Summer meant no school library.)
Even ss a teenager I focused on reading, making the school library and the public library my second homes. Oh, yes, I did other things. I did homework, played the oldest sister, and helped around the house while my parents worked. I took piano lessons but read novels instead of practicing.
For years I had to focus on motherhood, and teaching, and helping my husband build a photography business. There was no time to focus on anything else, including reading for pleasure.
I couldn't focus on writing until I left teaching and my daughter entered high school and began to work parttime at her dad's studio. My focus on writing developed as I discovered the new Macintosh computer at the studio. I had access to it after studio hours and worked after everyone left for the day. Often I worked until dawn. No way would I leave the studio at 2 or 3 AM so I kept working.
During my daddy's illness, I changed focus to him and my mama. Both have left us and I sometimes question my focuses before those later years. Often as families grow and scatter, our areas of focus change. Our spouses and kids demand our time and attention, leaving less for our parents and siblings and extended family.
Since my daughter is married and my husband is now my EX, I can focus on my writing and critique groups and my friends. Becuase of my focuses, most of my friends are writers. I did not mention cleaning as a focus because it isn't one.
FOCUS AND WRITING.
We must each decide if now is the time to focus on writing in a big way or as one of the things we do. We are entitled to have some things that bring us pleasure.
We can focus on writing for pleasure or on writing to publish. Whatever you do, don't give up the joy of writing.
What is your focus when you write?
What do you write? Do you write stories in the same genre, the same kinds of stories?
I find that whether I write suspense, or women's fiction, or romance, one focus is always there. Family. Family lost, or gained, or valued. My heroes and heroines or protagonists are loyal to family and value family. Family that's there for them, or family they wish they had, or family they miss. Sometimes the family consists of a parent and a child. Some families include couples and sometimes parents and siblings.
Do you have one central focus in your projects? I prefer to call mine stories.
There are other kinds of focus, but they must be the subjects another time.
I'll try to steal enough focus from my stories to do more with this website. Don't look for a blog, though.
My best to you all,
Mary Marvella