The Unfaithful Hobbyist

My number one hobby is writing. The rest are really all just to inform my writing, if I’m frank.

I have commitment issues when it comes to other hobbies. I pick up a bunch of hobbies long enough to learn about them but never master them, then move on to the next thing. I love to learn about everything, but I’m never dedicated enough to become an expert in anything.

This does help me as a writer, believe it or not. I can include these hobbies in my story with just enough detail to be convincing, but be able to get away with not being proficient. Usually I use writing as an excuse to learn different hobbies more than I use my hobbies to inform my writing.

I’ll seek out any new experience or learn anything for my writing. I’ll become obsessed by something: knife throwing, lock picking, the Latin language, food, wine, urban spelunking, Greek and Roman mythology, tai chi – do it until I get bored, write about it, and then move on to the next experience.

It can be a distraction to my writing sometimes, when I get obsessed with learning about a subject. I spent a day reading about the history of local cemeteries to inform a vampire novel I wrote that will probably never see the light of day (excuse the pun) as well as a story about a girl who can communicate with the dead so she likes to hang out in cemeteries.

The more I think about it, the more I think I need to include learning as one of my major hobbies. I’m as compelled to learn new things as I am to write. I take classes whenever I can, I devour books for their information, and I ask a lot of questions when I find people who do something I know nothing about. I also do a ton of internet research just for fun.

Learning and writing are two hobbies that definitely complement each other. What I write has more flavor because I’m able to flesh things out using my experiences and the things I’ve learned, and writing gives me a good excuse to tackle the next hobby.

Sara is a Kansas-grown author of the fantasy and horror persuasions. She is convinced that fantastical things are waiting for her just around the corner, and until she finds the right corner, she writes about those things instead.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.