A fellow writer and a friend has recently told me that I need to stay loyal to one book until it is done and published. My creative process does not like nor follow that rule. Inspiration does not come linearly nor does the execution, at least for me. I finished a draft of a book that I've worked diligently on for two years and now I'm giving it a rest while I revamp an older novel I started several years ago. My friend thinks this is active procrastination. But I don't see it that way at all. In my experience:
There is only one river, but the streams to it are infinite.
Other novels want their moment in the sun. Blogs want to be included. Songs want to be written and sung too. A brushstroke here, a word there, and the mural gets completed. It just so happens that my mural looks like a collage rather than a picture.
Is it wrong? Am I swimming in too many directions at once? Am I swimming in the wrong direction?
But if all streams join with the ONE body of water, then what difference does it make which stream and how many I take? Is it out of principle we try to be linear or perhaps out of loyalty? The loyalty to whom?
The artist is loyal to no one.
The artist can only be loyal to the moment. THIS moment. Whatever IT wants.
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