I unofficially type “THE END” in my mind as I finish the last page of my newest tale… and then I mope and grieve and say goodbye to the characters that have lived in my mind forever and are now gone.

They aren’t really gone. In front of me I face revisions, editing, more revisions, more editing, and then it’s off to the publisher for more editing and then… the magical cover reveal and release date. But the creative part for me ends with “the end” as I finish the story I meant to tell and I free the spirits I’ve held captive during this process.

In the days following, I don’t sit back down at my keyboard and start Chapter One. It’s refueling time. I read… tons and tons of things- all kinds of things. I visit the mall and sit in the food court. I make up stories about people I see outside my car window as I drive to the store. I watch foreign TV and I catch up on all the famous people gossip (who has a new show coming, who is singing with whom, and who was caught in NY last month and why). I watch those stupid Youtube videos with silly babies, cats, and dogs, and I search for new artists. And I read some more. I study a genre- not one I’m going to write in, but a new one so that I can figure out what makes that kind of story work and doesn’t. I carry around a notebook and make new character sketches and story plots. I answer email (and compose mental emails to those pesky spam emails). I fingerpaint with the two year old and make paper dolls with the six year old. I shop and shop and shop… and I’m in the kitchen, cooking and baking and making crafty type things.

I’m filling up- getting ready to write. To the outsider, it looks like procrastination. It may be procrastination, but it works for me. When I sit down to write again, it will pour out like an unstopped dam until the story is done and the vessel is empty. If I try to write before I’m full, I bang around on the keys, distracted and vexed.

Creativity needs to be fed something besides candy hearts and Hershey bars. It needs to feel, taste, and roll around in life. It needs to listen to new sounds, see new places, and touch new substances. It needs words and music and art until the brain is brimming and sloshing out from the overflow. So don’t be afraid to fill it up before you let it! It’s all part of the same process to me!