Reason vs. Heart: Still Tugging
It’s mythic.
And mundane.
A North Carolina Cow Behind a Fence in Pinehurst
Heart battling Reason.
Reason speaking for steady income, security, safety.
Heart arguing for inspiration, energy, enthusiasm, vitality, passion.
Reason boxing us in to the predictable and the unsatisfying. Keeping us, we hope, sheltered, clothed and fed.
Fields as far as the eye can see, bordered by a fence
Heart allowing us to follow our life force, to create, imagine, stretch and play, experiment and develop. Happy, but is it enough to pay the bills?
It’s the old grasshopper and the ant fable. The grasshopper sings and plays. The ants prepare for the winter working all the time.
How does it end up? Many of the stories say the ants leave the grasshopper out in the cold. Grasshopper should have known better than to follow her heart.
Working with Women Writers, Women Books is a combination of both, Reason and Heart. Reason in that as writers and authors we have to keep connecting to a wider group of people. Heart in that slowly growing relationships with women authors around the world is fascinating, rich, satisfying, expanding and fun.
Reason says to keep focusing on business clients. Writing for them. Helping them build a rich, genuine Internet presence that will work for them for years.
Green Tree Frog
Heart says wouldn’t it be wonderful to spend my days writing the hundreds of stories that are pent up. The books I’ve nurtured in my mind, and in half a dozen notebooks for two decades now, at least.
And somewhere in between, comes the possibility of writing more, and using my social media and Internet Publicity experience in service of writers and authors.
Coaching individually or in small groups.
Developing Social Media and Internet Publicity Plans.
Forming strategies.
Leveraging the Internet resources I’ve built and know about.
Bridge at Grandfather Mountain NC
Search. Domain names. Website development. Blogs. Press Releases. Social Media Kits. Press Kits. Networking. LinkedIn. Facebook. Twitter. HootSuite or Sprout Social for scheduling. Google Analytics. Publishing through CreateSpace, Lulu. Kindle. Smashwords. Interlinking online content. Monitoring reputations.
So much to know and understand in the virtual representation of our real world. No winds exist. No sunrise, sunset. But a whole host of other elements.
The tug continues. A little towards Reason, a little towards Heart, and back and forth.
Some people dance gracefully with this. How is your balance between Reason and Heart?
—
Related posts:
Sylvia Petter’s How my Day Job Saved my Writing Life
Aine Greaney’s Writer with a Day Job: About the Blue Curlers
Clare Kirkpatrick Writing with Children: A Day in the Life of a Writing Mom
Category: About Women Writers, Women, Books
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
It’s hard to hold it all in that kind of tension isn’t it. If I don’t make time for writing I find it keeps me awake at night with phrases and ideas and words pestering me. I like the idea of a little tug towards reason and a little tug towards heart keeping it in balance.
You say if you don’t make time for writing, it keeps you awake… I know what you mean. I like your image of two little tugs keeping it all in balance. Thanks Gill!
Lovely article. I’ve been making ‘reason’ choices all my life, albeit my very young life, this year I’ve decided with my ‘heart’ and I’m quite excited about it.
Lucinda, thank you for sharing your experience here. Very wonderful to hear that you’re going with your ‘heart’. Passion moves us!
Very nicely said. At the moment, my balance, by necessity, is off. By tomorrow, the work project that consumed me will be done and I can get back to writing. I feel very out of sorts when I can’t find at least a little time to do so.
Thank you Jane. So many writers and creatives share that they’re out of sorts when they don’t make time for their personal creative work. Once when I made three hours for myself one Sunday evening to edit some of my own writing, the spirit of the whole next week changed. Renewed energy, efficiency and vitality. – AMc