A few years ago, I moved to Spain and while I was living there, I did very little creative work. There seemed to be multiple factors that played into this:  the effort of adjustment to a new culture, helping my daughter adjust, the demands of learning a new language, plus the daily hassle of life in a new city where everything is closed on Sundays and everything has to be done in new ways, from the laundry to the cooking, coupled with having to do all my normal paying work…. All of this conspired to steal my creative energy.

If we’d been able to stay longer, I suspect I would have been able to do more creative work, as naturally over the months and years I would have spent less energy on adjustment and learning.

At the time I felt thwarted; I wanted to write but was mentally exhausted so much of the time I couldn’t do it.

Interestingly, when we (I moved with my daughter) decided to return to the US, this problem vanished and even though I was still living in Spain, I was able to complete the draft of a novel in a month or so.

I’m mentioning this not to imply you shouldn’t do anything hard (like moving overseas) in case it affects your creative work, I’m just saying that sometimes one’s creative work has seasons.

I remember something similar happening when my daughter was born. I didn’t write anything creative for several years; the demands of raising a massively disabled child took all of my attention. A few years later, after my divorce, financial difficulties took all my attention.

Once things stabilized, I was able to put more effort into my creative work.

These kinds of problems can wreak havoc with your creative energy and your creative schedule. If it happens, be patient with yourself. Think of it as a lull, not a stoppage, and keep allowing yourself time and space for the writing to take place, even if sometimes it doesn’t amount to much.

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Jennifer Lawler has been a writer-editor for more than twenty-five years and has published more than forty novels and nonfiction books. She is the founder of the online education company Club Ed LLC