What Are You Side Questing?
How many side quests have you currently got going on?
If you’re anything like me, you have a gazillion ideas in your head. There is something you are working on, or are supposed to be working on, but another possibility appears and starts tapping you on the shoulder.
You could make this.
You could try that.
Suddenly, you are on a side quest.
My actual quest
My main creative project is the Far North Queensland Adventures calendar.
It contains twelve monthly illustrations, recurring characters, a travelling bag and souvenirs collected along the way. It is a substantial project, and I’m working through it one page at a time.
That is the actual quest.
This week’s side quests
This week, I created two Christmas cards and four Halloween patterns.
None of those things was part of the calendar plan. They appeared because I had other ideas and wanted to make something different.
The side quests weren’t abandoned sketches or another collection of unfinished beginnings. I completed six pieces that I can potentially share, upload and sell.
That feels like a productive detour.
Side quests aren’t always the enemy
It is easy to treat every idea outside the current project as a distraction.
Sometimes it is. You can spend so long setting off in new directions that nothing gets finished.
A side quest can also give your brain the change it needs. A smaller piece may be easier to complete when the main project feels large or you don’t have the energy for its next complicated section.
The question is whether the side quest supports your creativity or quietly replaces the thing you said mattered most.
Remember which one is the main quest
My calendar is still the main quest.
The Christmas cards and Halloween patterns haven’t changed that. They gave me something different to create, and now I need to return to Far North Queensland.
Naming the main quest makes the distinction much clearer. I don’t need to feel guilty about every creative detour, but I also can’t pretend the detour is the project I originally chose.
So, what are you side questing at the moment?
More importantly, what is the actual quest you should be on?
