Two decades ago, when I was a neophyte writer, I was warned to be careful of distractions. Me being me, I looked at where that advice was coming from. Certainly, a publisher and editor would urge an author not to get distracted. They didn't make any money if the writer didn't produce. But a lot of other writers in the old online groups said the same thing.
I was pretty good at blacking out distractions - in the beginning. Being published was a new thing, an exciting thing. I didn't realize the price I'd eventually pay by isolating myself to write. I missed out on a lot to be a writer and I have a different mindset now.
Earlier this week I got a phone call from someone asking if I were related to a person who had just passed. Sharing the last name, and knowing the origins of the name, I was sure we were related. It made me curious as to how close the connection might be. I consulted The Book.
The Book is actually three full volumes of my genealogy. I looked up the deceased person's name and discovered we were connected - if you went back to 1751. There are three main branches in the tree and we're in the same one.
Searching him out started me on a journey down the rabbit hole. You know the rabbit hole. The one Alice fell into. It does exist and I found it.
Stuffed into the three volumes are copies of obituaries I've collected over the years. I saved them so that "one day" I could add them to the genealogy software I use. I had the program open so I decided I'd take five or six and get them added. You can guess how that has turned out.
Is it really a distraction to set writing prose aside for a few days and pursue a passion? I know virtually nothing about my father's family. My father's father died when I was four or five, and my dad tended to avoid his mother, ergo, I didn't see her much in my formative years. My aunts helped a bit but they left out A LOT of family history and I recently learned why. There's a "family secret" that today is just silly. My grandmother had a half-brother born out of wedlock. He's even buried beside a family plot so why didn't anyone talk about him? I suppose a child out of wedlock was a big deal in the early 1900s, but now, not so much. I think it speaks well of my great-grandfather to marry a woman, in those days, who already had a child.
Taking time to pursue a passion keeps us connected to ourselves. It's one of the reasons I no longer produce six to eight books a year. I could, but I don't. Instead, I stay checked into my life and what I enjoy doing (besides writing). It's the reason I started Holly Tree Manor/The Hideaway. I wanted to record my life now so that when I'm an old woman I can look back and believe I did exist and I did have a life. You may think that's a distraction, but it's important to me.
Writing is important to me, too, but it is a lonely pursuit. To write well, we need to focus on the words. This tends to isolate us. We need our other passions to stay balanced and happy. It's up to each of us to decide where, every day, we focus our time to be happy.
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My home on the web- Between the Keys:
http://kckendricks.blogspot.com
Visit my bookshelf at:
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/bookshelf.html
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