On Life and What I've Been Up to Creatively Lately

Original Image by Shannon Hilson via Midjourney

I swear I don't know where the damn time goes when it comes to these blogs I still like to tell myself I maintain. I'll realize it's been a while since my last update, but when I finally make it over to the platform to type something up, I'll see it's actually been... like... months. So long in some cases that the entire posting interface is totally different, as is apparently the case with Blogger today.

I know I keep saying this, and I'll say it again (to whatever audience I still have left or might have at any point in the future). Don't take breaks when it comes to your personal writing. I don't care how many awesome clients want to pay you good money for your time, expertise, and labor. A week off so easily turns into a month, and that so easily turns into several months. Before you know it, you're back to wondering whether you even know how to write a decent blog post anymore and unsure of where to start figuring it out.

Instead, treat whatever type of writing you want to make sure you keep doing -- blogging, newsletters, journaling, fiction, poetry, fortune cookie sayings, what have you -- with the same seriousness you would your paying freelance work. Try not to worry too much about whether it makes you money because God knows that's my problem. I have a tendency to spend my time and writing energy wherever the money is at any given time, but self-expression is crucial, too, which you'll realize if you neglect it long enough.

On Clients and Freelance Work

My original reason for taking a bit of a break from blogging and other types of writing (with the exception of the private journaling I do for the sake of my sanity and the creative writing I pump out every year during NaNoWriMo) was an abundance of well-paying freelance work that fell in my lap. It was mostly thanks to one client for whom I loved writing and still enjoy writing. But they've been revamping some things on their end lately.

Some of the revamps had to do with their reimagining their SEO strategy, which meant the blog project they had me working on became less of a priority. They're also going through some staffing changes. The editor I'd gotten to know and had been working with this entire time left last Friday, and I was honestly pretty bummed about that, as I genuinely liked the guy and enjoyed working with him. 

I don't yet know the new editor or her vision for that blog moving forward, and they're likely still figuring it out themselves. But for the immediate moment, I don't have a ton to do as far as assignments from that company go. That leaves me with a little free time on my hands after I'm done seeing to my other regulars. It feels weird to have time again, but I'm going to see if I can't use it to reestablish some sort of regular writing habit here.

On the Wonders of AI Art

Lately, I've taken it upon myself to start exploring all of this AI art that's been so popular, and I kind of can't believe how much fun I'm having. I started out using a couple of the more accessible fringe AI platforms -- like StarryAI and Night Cafe -- but I've since graduated to running Midjourney through Discord and have more or less stuck with that one ever since.

You can do so much with these AI engines. The images you can get it to generate are awesome as standalone works of art, but you can also use them as base images for the creation of your own digital art or as references for traditional art. I'm currently playing around with ideas to monetize my Midjourney creations -- perhaps against my better judgment, as I don't have fond memories of my former life as a professional artist. But in the meantime, I've just been having fun sharing some of what I make on social media. 

I've also used a few of my images to illustrate some of the creative writing I've posted so far online in lieu of the very inadequate stock photos I'd been using previously. Honestly, I imagine Midjourney could even be a solid solution for all those times I need an image to go with something standard I've written but can't find a usable stock image that doesn't suck to high heaven. It's a great creative solution, not to mention a good way for me to indulge my occasional desire to produce visual art even though I'm always so busy.

On the End of Summer

Perhaps this is just a side effect of getting older, but we're at the end of another season that finds me unable to tell you what I even did with my time. I'm guessing I worked and took care of my clients, as that's what I seem to do with the vast majority of my time these days. When I'm not busy doing those things, I vegetate -- in front of the TV or between the virtual pages of an ebook, mostly. 

Sometimes life gets the best of me and tires me out like I can't believe these days. There's always something going on in my personal or professional life, and it probably goes without saying that the outside world is a bit of a shit show these days. I'm also trying to make taking proper care of myself a higher priority as I get older, so there's that. Rest and downtime are a big deal to me these days as a result.