So, saying Adiós to a lovely blog, Procrastinating Writers, and ran across this term: multipotentialite.
A multipotentialite is a person who has many different interests and creative pursuits in life.
The scientific term for this is a "generalist"—and I've been calling myself one for years. But here's where it gets interesting (and describes me to a T):
The aspect of multipotentiality that worries multipotentialites the most is the tendency to become bored. Boredom usually hits once we’ve learned what we are meant to learn on a particular topic, and instead of moving on, we try to continue down a path we’re no longer interested in. Boredom is our body’s way of telling us that it’s time to move on to something new.
Multipotentialites don’t define “finishing” the way a specialist (and indeed, most of society) does. We learn what we came to learn and then move on to the next interest. This may not always look like “finishing” to the outside world, but it is.
I do this with writing: scribbling stories that may or may not ever see the light of day. I do this with hobbies: I've had dozens of them over the years and picking them back up again is difficult, next to impossible. But I think the definition is still wrong in its own way.
Leonardo DaVinci was a generalist of innovation. Nikola Tesla was a generalist of science. Isaac Newton was a generalist of information and knowledge, with a focus in science. Does this mean they are constantly changing paths? No. They were constantly changing focus.
Tesla's greatest inventions were because he would bring together multiple disciplines and ideas into their innovative points of convergence. Justine Musk devotes her entire blog to explaining the value of convergence and how to make it your own.
I am a generalist of writing. I'm eclectic, always have been. I use my multitude of hobbies to strengthen my fiction. (And no, I'm not interested in writing any more stories about woodworking either; train gone.) I hop worlds and stories, but the activity, the underlying path, remains unchanged. I am a writer.
Focus: science. Focus: fantasy. Focus: small towns. Focus: family. Focus: love (defining it, making it true to my own self). Focus: sacrifice. I could list a hundred others. They shift as easily as my moods. But the path is writing.
What's your path?
I'd say writing, too, though sometimes it broadens into creativity. I dabble in a few other creative forms, but I always come back to writing, reading, and thinking. Maybe words are my path.
I love how you interweave arts and crafts and music and motherhood with story. I know I was completely floored when I first read the Elinor stories. They just sucked me right in. And that last story you posted? I see so much of how your life informs your fiction.