Lost in Liminal Space

Posted by on Jan 25, 2024 in Catherine Ann Jones, Catherine's Blog

Liminal is defined as the space between ‘what was’ and ‘what next’. Creatives often find themselves in liminal space between projects.  The artist subsists on the goal of completing a work. However, once the exhilaration of completion subsides, the void beckons. This is often experienced as deserved and much needed rest, collapse, restlessness, self-doubt, confusion. These are part and parcel of the writer’s journey. Ideas for new work may swarm, but the difficult question arises: What do I feel passionate enough to write, to devote weeks or months to one project? And when I do, will it have a response?

As a playwright in New York, ideas would find me. A walk on Park Ave, seeing the cover story on the New York Post, where I read the front line: Woman jumps from brownstone killing both herself and her baby! My inborn alarm went off and I knew I had found my next play – not even bothering to read the article. The Myth of Annie Beckman was born.

During a honeymoon in Ireland, a psychic waking vision while visiting a 9th century monastic ruin lured me into what years later would become a romantic/drama screenplay about reincarnation called Second Chance.

Years living in India left fifteen seeds that later blossomed into fifteen short stories set in India. And this month,  my eighth book, East and West: Stories of India is launched in 19 countries.

What have I learned from my decades of writing life? That from these times of liminality, waiting in the void, is a necessary element of the creative process. To remain open and actively passive, and the idea will come.