It's only to be expected, of course. Once the feverish activity of publication, marketing, and promotion are out of the way, it's perfectly normal to feel deflated, even somewhat depressed. Years of work and months of administrative tasks have suddenly come to an end and we feel empty.
When I was an opera singer, back in the mists of time, many of us would experience the same sense of dejectedness, once the season had concluded. Only when we returned to rehearse the next season would our joie-de-vivre return. We had a new project!
And that is the essence of the problem. As creatives, we need projects, a focus for our desire to communicate our dreams to the world. But there is another catch. What if we feel burnt out? What if the ideas have not yet crystallized? What if we are not ready to begin our next magnum opus?
Creative people are also aware of the need for fallow time: for the days, weeks or months when ideas are still in the embryonic stage and we should rest. This is the time for meditation and long walks, for sketching and painting and photography, for the other activities that bring us joy.
The hardest task is relinquishing the obsessive drive to create, even when the well is dry. It takes discipline to let go, but ultimately, it will serve us well.
Now all I need to do, is take my own advice.
