I’ve been told on more than one occasion, usually by Mr. Awesome Sauce, that I have a chronic, incurable case of A.D.O.S. (Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny!), and that got me to wondering if any other writers are all around artistic/crafty/disorganized peeps like me.

I know for a fact that two authors I have followed for years, Kim Harrison and Carrie Vaughn, are both crafty individuals (oddly enough they’re both knitters/crocheters), and Jim Butcher is into RPGs, which while not necessarily crafty is awesomely nerdy and worthy of mentioning, because seriously, Dungeons & Dragons. ‘Nuff said.

I myself have a pretty varied repertoire of artsy skills that I like to practice from time to time including jewelry making, sewing, quilting, and drawing. I’m also a gaming nerd, but that’s a whole other post for another day. I also have a tendency to bounce from one hobby to the next, focusing on it for weeks or months at a time in something akin to compulsion until I can’t stand it anymore and have to set it aside for a while. These obsessive episodes have included cookie making, costume making, and quilting. But writing has always been my one true love, and is something I have sought to excel at for more than twenty years. It is the one thing I always return to time and again without fail.

I can’t help wondering if we literary types have so many different creative outlets because we write, and the constant pondering and planning that comes along with that opens up an endless well of creativity, or if we write because we are inherently creative people, and writing just becomes another outlet among many.

What about you, dear readers? Do you have a plethora of other creative outlets, and do you find yourself torn between them and writing? Do you, like me, have phases wherein you can’t focus on anything besides one particular type of creative project?