Finding creative balance: Six autumn equinox journalling prompts
The autumn equinox is the perfect time to pause and take stock. These six journalling prompts helped me reflect on creative balance and the stories I want to spend time telling
It's the autumnal equinox! Happy Mabon to all who celebrate!
Whatever your belief system, I always feel these milestones are useful tools for creatives, an opportunity to pause and take stock.
The equinox is no exception, a day when both day and night are perfectly balanced.
Twelve hours of light. Twelve hours of darkness.
FINDING BALANCE IN YOUR CREATIVE LIFE
Balance is important in every aspect of creative life. As a working storyteller, I know all too well the danger of letting things get out of whack. I completely burned out while working on Star Wars: The High Republic, becoming physically and mentally ill. It was a tough patch, and with the help of my family – and a trained therapist – I worked my way through the worst of it, discovering new ways to cope with the pressures of being a freelancer and, most importantly, finding time to rest and recharge.
But there's another aspect of creative balance that is equally important: deciding which projects to pursue and which to pass by. The problem is that when your brain is firing on all cylinders, there are just so many options available to you.
Should I focus on this, that or the other? What opportunities should I chase, or which should I ignore? Decision paralysis is real. With too many choices ahead, you stop moving, second-guessing everything.
Alternatively, you commit to one path at the expense of all others, so focused on moving forward that you never stop to check you're heading in the right direction.
WORK-FOR-HIRE vs. CREATOR-OWNED
It's a feeling I know all too well. I spend most of my day working on work-for-hire projects, things like Star Wars or Masters of the Universe. And I love it. Every time I get to play in those worlds, I'm still the ten-year-old kid who fell in love with them all those years ago.
But if that's all I do, if I spend all my time working in other people's sandpits, I get angsty. I want to tell my own stories in my own worlds, like next month's Godfather of Hell, with my rules and my boundaries.
The trouble is that work-for-hire pays the bills, while most creator-owned work begins as a passion project.
Balancing those competing needs is a constant battle, and, in all honesty, one I don't think I've managed particularly well this year. My brush with cancer shifted priorities early on, and a series of major, actually-quite-welcome, WFH projects helped fill the gaps.
But I can feel that itch at the back of my head, along with the early warning signs of overwhelm. I have a lot of projects on my wish-list and only a limited amount of time, so I needed to take a step back and look at what I'm doing.
With the autumn equinox on the horizon, I came up with six journalling prompts that helped me focus my thoughts, jotting down the answers in my logbook. I thought you might find them helpful too. Today is a great opportunity to pause and think about how things are going in your creative life and where you want them to go.
So, make yourself a cuppa, grab a notebook and a pen and run through these questions, seeing where your answers lead you...
AUTUMN EQUINOX JOURNALLING PROMPTS
1. Which creative project has received most of your attention this year?
Think about where your time, energy and focus have gone over the past nine months. It might be a single project, a body of work, or even a new creative habit you've been developing.
2. What has that focus helped you achieve?
What have you learned? How have you grown? Progressed? What became possible because of that investment of time and attention?
3. Which creative project has received the least attention?
Is there an idea, project or ambition that has been sitting gathering dust in the background while other priorities have taken centre stage?
4. What has prevented you from giving it more of your time and energy?
Be honest with yourself. Was it lack of time, confidence, opportunity or motivation? Or was it simply a conscious decision to prioritise something else?
5. Are you happy with that balance?
There are no right or wrong answers here. Some projects deserve more attention than others. Sometimes the time isn't right. The question is whether your current balance reflects your priorities.
6. What small change could you make before the end of the year to spend more time on the work that matters most to you?
Think small. The goal isn't to reinvent your life overnight. What one realistic adjustment could you make in the coming weeks?
There they are. Six small questions that can unlock a lot of big thoughts!
For me, once I gave myself time to think, I realised I was being too tough on myself. Yes, I've been doing a lot of work-for-hire recently, but a lot of other projects are bubbling just under the surface, ready and waiting for when the time is right. Plus, I'd given myself more time to engage with geeky creative hobbies over the last six months or so. Lino printing, miniature painting, even a bit of sketching.
The change I settled on wasn't dramatic: commit at least one hour a week to a creator-owned project, just enough time to keep things moving forward while the big work-for-hire jobs demand most of my attention. And from now on, whenever a new job comes my way, I've promised myself I'll pause before saying yes and ask whether it's worth tipping the scales even further toward purely licenced work.
What about you? What have your answers revealed? If you feel comfortable, I'd love to hear what your answers revealed. Either reply to this email or leave a comment below. I'll be sure to read and reply to every one.
Until next time, look after yourself and each other,
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Cavan Scott
Cavan Scott
Cavan Scott
WHAT I'M WORKING ON
Thanks to pesky NDAs, I can’t reveal many details about what I’m writing at the moment, so I’ve come up with a sneaky list of project names. Keep an eye on future editions. I'll update everything as the work progresses!
Project: Avarice
- A novelisation for a fantasy franchise, currently in copy edits.
Project: Passer
- A graphic novel adaptation of a top romantasy novel. Currently scripting.
Project: Soldier
- A newly commissioned fantasy novel, currently awaiting editorial feedback on the outline.
Konflikt ‘47
- Working with Warlord Games on the lore and creative direction for the weird World War II tabletop game.
EVENTS
28th OCTOBER: GODFATHER OF HELL LAUNCH LIVESTREAM
Cavan Scott
05th NOVEMBER: FREE UNEARTHED EVENT IN BRISTOL
Cavan Scott
COMING SOON
Star Wars: Scoundrels and Smugglers - Race for Jabba’s Bounty
An all-age graphic novel starring Han Solo, Chewbacca, Jaxxon and a host of scum and villainy. On sale 6th October.
Godfather of Hell
My new creator-owned graphic novel for mature readers. Think Goodfellas meets The Exorcist. On sale 27th October.
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE GENESIS #4
The beginning of a new arc featuring Man-At-Arms unravelling a dark mystery with his friend, Prince Randor. On sale 16th December,