I’ll never forget the day that we bought Sherlock home; that four-legged fury bundle of fun that my husband was so desperate for. Maybe he was the one suffering from ‘almost’ empty nest syndrome, whereas this time-consuming and mischievous little bundle of fur didn’t necessarily come at the right time for me… or at least that’s what I thought. The kids had grown and it was time for me to make more time for my creativity… to pursue my creative passions more seriously now I had a lot more time on my hands… time that was now being eaten into all over again.
But of course, how can you help but fall in love with them, with their little wet noses and soft sweet faces..? Impossible! And I couldn’t be without him now. Not least because I have found a way that Sherlock can actually assist me in my creative pursuits. There was a time when I religiously walked him twice a day, which I still do… Only back then I would be walking along worrying about all of the things I should be doing, like setting up a new still-life, writing a blog post, preparing a canvas, updating my website… all of the things that go with the life of a serious creative.
How To Make this Time Work For You Creatively…
But yay for technology, which now means that I can work as I walk! In fact, taking Sherlock for a walk down the woods twice a day with nothing other than the birds in the background, gives me the perfect opportunity to get things done.
Since co-founding ‘Kick in the Creatives’ my creative load has quadrupled. Tara and I work tirelessly on producing content, preparing podcast episodes, editing, participating in some of the challenges, and of course egging you on, because after all, you are largely why we are doing it! And to top it all, we are still writing our children’s book, which continues off the back of the ‘February Fables’ challenge!
‘Kick In the Creatives’ has become a huge part of my creative life, but somehow I needed to find a way to fit it all in on top of everything else. And as unlikely as it sounds, one of the ways I do this, is during my twice daily walk with Sherlock.
How Can I Make Time For Art By Working While I’m Walking the Dog?
Oh, the joy of dictation!
Now whenever I walk out of the door with Sherlock, I look at my ‘to-do’ list and think, ‘How can I make use of this time?’ Of course, sometimes it’s important to do nothing other than walk to clear my head, but mostly walking the dog has now become a very valuable pocket of time indeed.
This morning, I knew it was time to write a blog post. And instead of having to ‘carve’ out some time during a busy day to sit at the computer and do this, I wrote it while I was walking… Or rather I ‘spoke’ it while I was walking. Yes, everything you are reading right now was ‘spoken’ as I walked the dog. By the time I get back, it will be just about finished aside from a little editing, which will no doubt be essential as Siri often throws in some very random and often quite amusing typos!
I have to say that when I do it this way, it often sounds a little bit more like the ‘real me’ whereas when I write, sometimes it doesn’t flow quite so naturally because I have more time to think about what I’m going to say.
And by the way… In case you are wondering how I dictate, I simply use my iPhone. I open my ‘Notes’ app and instead of typing in the words I just speak as I walk. Then it’s a simple matter of ‘Copy and Paste’. Easy peasy. Job done!
And it works for lots of other things too. For example tomorrow I will start writing, or rather ‘speaking’ my podcast notes as Sherlock enjoys exploring… So thank goodness for Sherlock who has unwittingly given me the opportunity to embrace the silence and make some noise, twice a day, every day. They say where there is a will, there’s a way. Who would’ve thought that my way would come with four legs?