~ IWSG: What Would You Rather Do? ~

yvettecarol

Jun 8

It's time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you'd like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post on the first Wednesday of every month. Every month, the organizers announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. Remember, the question is optional!!! Let's rock the neurotic writing world!
Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.

June 7 question - If you ever did stop writing, what would you replace it with?
I can't imagine ever stopping writing. I want to be like the well-known American author James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851), who died with a new book in production at the printers and the planning for his next book in evidence on his desk. Or, like the Russian fabulist Ivan Andreyevich Krylov (1768 - 1844), who 'continued writing fables until he died in 1844 at seventy-six. His last collection of fables accompanied the notice of his death sent to his friends and associates.' ~ Trish Nicholson. However, if we lived in an alternate universe, or this was a parallel lifetime, and I stopped writing several other careers have also held an abiding fascination when I think about it.
Number one: archaeologist. I've always said I would have liked to pursue archaeology in another life. On my bookshelves, I have lots of books about ancient history. It's a subject that fascinates me deeply and that I never tire of. Time Team is one of my favourite shows, and I watch all the shows on the National Geographic channel, and the History channel, that follow archaeologists discovering things out in the field.

Number two: librarian. From being a small child, going to the hallowed halls of the local library once a week, when we, four kids, and mum and dad, would all choose books to read, I treasured the library. I admired the librarians, those immensely wise, gentle human beings who knew where to find all the books I needed. When I was young, there was no internet, making the librarians incredibly important. We needed their help to navigate our way through the mysterious, hushed avenues of library bookshelves. I daydreamed that one day I would unlock its wonders, wander around filing books, and be the guide for other bright-eyed, bushy-tailed readers.
Number three is the artist. A love of art has come with me throughout my life, the expression of which has brought me a great deal of joy. I took art and art history as subjects at school, and as an adult, I studied oil portraiture with the Kiwi artist and sculptor, Liz Sutherland. Liz is a friend and had said, one time, while she liked my illustrations, she wanted to teach me oil painting to teach me "how to be bold." So, I took Liz up on that offer, driving out to the studio on her farm in the countryside every weekend for years, learning how to paint with oils. I like to think my illustrations improved accordingly.

During my thirties, when I worked on my picture books, I spent years working on the illustrations. In 2005, I took a children's writing workshop with Kate de Goldi. That weekend would prove a turning point in my writing life. Each student was to bring along a manuscript we were working on. Proudly, I showed Kate my picture book story, Free Wally, accompanied by sixteen pages of watercolour illustrations. I remember Kate read it from cover to cover. Then, straight to the point as ever, she asked, "Did you do the illustrations?" I said, "Yes." She said, "This is my suggestion. Choose one or the other, writing or illustrating, and focus on that. Focus on it."
Where I'd expected praise, Kate offered constructive criticism and clear-eyed guidance from her place with ten books to her name, multiple awards, and years of teaching. Choose one or the other. There was no choice. Story has always been my first love. Writing it would have to be. I came home from that weekend and packed my painting gear away. Kate was right. I needed to put the same amount of energy I was pouring into my paintings into the words and hone my writing skills. I've been working on them ever since (and hope to continue learning as long as I'm alive).

Looking back, I can see how that straight-talking advice has served me. Would I have two stories published in anthologies, three books in print, and another seven-book series "on the desk" otherwise? No way. I'd be perched in some artist's tower, painting into the wee hours every morning, and have six more unpublished manuscripts. Self-publishing picture books is an option only for the rich - I would never have been able to produce them myself. I am so glad I made the choice I did.
These days, I dabble in art. I like to do two pen and ink illustrations for each of my children's books. I think if I was to stop writing altogether for some crazy reason, I would probably then go to that second choice from 2005, and return to illustrating. It could be informative to develop my painting skills by taking more classes. That would be divine. Maybe replacing writing with something else wouldn't be so bad after all.
If you weren't writing/doing whatever you do, what would you replace it with?