I’ve Always Loved Coloring Books

I loved coloring when I was a kid, and as it happens I still love to color. I consider myself a wannabe crafter. I used to dabble in painting with acrylics, and while coloring in a coloring book isn’t actually crafting or creating an original work of art, it still allows me to play with colors.

I’ve discovered a meditative quality to coloring since the coloring itself is all I’m thinking about while I’m engaged in the activity–choosing which picture to fill in, choosing which supplies I’ll use (maybe crayons or colored pencils or gel pens), and deciding on my color palette.

I’m not worried about all the work I have to do for my own writing, for The Copperfield Review, for my teaching jobs, or anything else. The more I have on my to-do list and the more stressed out I feel, the more I appreciate the simplicity of sitting down with some crayons and coloring in some pictures.

Listening to “Experts” Can Take the Joy of Coloring Away

A few years ago, when coloring for adults exploded in popularity, suddenly there were countless articles about the right way to color. The explosion of experts is similar to what happened with writing and indie publishing about a decade ago—suddenly there were all these experts shouting about the right way to write, the right way to publish, the right way to market.

The same thing happened to coloring. Something that should be relaxing and fun became stressful as I tried to keep up with the right way to do things. There’s nothing like an expert to take the fun out of something.

I had the realization (while coloring, of course) that my attitude toward coloring was the same as my attitude toward writing. I had to decide for myself how I wanted to color, just like I had to decide for myself how I wanted to write.

Use the colors you want to use

The experts in coloring will tell you to choose your palette first—use a color wheel to help you determine which colors to use. They’ll tell you which colors go with each other, and if you use that other color combination, look out! The Crayola Police will hunt you down. Hey, they say, that’s how painters do it, so that’s how coloring people should do it too!

And then I realized that I could use any color combination I want, just as I can write my stories however I want. I don’t like choosing my colors ahead of time. I like to choose my colors one by one as I’m coloring in the picture. Sometimes I have an overall idea of the color scheme I want to use, sometimes I don’t.

Sometimes I’m happy with how the pictures turn out, sometimes I’m not. When I’m writing, I have an overall idea of how I want the story to turn out, but I’ve also learned to get out of my own way and allow the story to find its own path. If I prefer choosing my colors as I go as opposed to choosing them first then I can do that. If I prefer letting my stories find their own way, I can do that too.

Stop comparing yourself to others

There are some amazing coloring websites out there where the artists post their finished pages. Some of those colored pages are indeed museum-ready. They’re absolutely beautiful with shading and light and the way the colors blend together. My pictures don’t look like that (as you’ll see from the examples in this post).

I love playing with colors, and some color combinations I try I like, some I don’t like as much, but so what? I wouldn’t know what I liked unless I allowed myself the freedom to experiment.

I have no desire to become a professional artist. Making myself crazy trying to make my pictures look like some of these artists’ pictures doesn’t work for me. I don’t have a lot of time to color because I’m so busy with other tasks, so when I do have time to play with my crayons I don’t want to spend my time being stressed because my picture doesn’t look good enough compared to what other people can do. Where’s the fun in that?

Writers often have severe cases of compare-itis. We’re always looking to see which writers are selling more books, getting better reviews, or winning more awards than we are. We have to remind ourselves that we’re not in competition with other writers.

This isn’t a race. Our careers as writers are just as unique as we are as people. No two writing careers are alike. We need to remember to focus on ourselves and helping our own careers move forward. Like runners, if we keep looking back to see who might overtake us we’ll lose steam and slow down.

Outline if you want to, and it’s okay to color outside the lines

When I was reading posts of coloring tips, a number of the experts said not to outline your drawing. Apparently, with outlining you’re not going to have a realistic-looking product and that’s not how the professionals do it. Oh well.

I’ve always liked to outline my coloring pictures. Even when I was a kid I’d outline the shapes with whatever crayon I was using. A lot of times, I’ll outline with a darker color and fill in the shape with a lighter color (as evidenced in the picture above), and I like the way that looks. Is it wrong? Not to me. It’s my coloring page and I’m going to do it the way I want to. It’s the same with coloring outside the lines.

I like it when my coloring pencils or crayons end up outside the line because then when I’m filling in the next color they blend a bit. How maddening, to feel like your coloring page is all wrong if your hand slipped and some color ended up on the other side of the line.

A few years ago I went out to dinner with a friend who was about to retire from her teaching career. I told her about coloring and how many hours of enjoyment it brought me. I even bought her some colored pencils and coloring books as a retirement present.

A few months later I asked her how she liked her coloring books. She told me that she was afraid to try them because she could never stop herself from coloring outside the lines. I tried to explain that this was her own book, for her own enjoyment. No one was going to grade her and if she wanted to draw big, squiggly lines who’s going to know?

To this day I don’t think she ever tried coloring because she was afraid of some imaginary giant finger in her brain shaking “NO!” if her pencil dared to stray over the line. So often, the limitations we set upon ourselves are far harsher than anything the outside world could set on us.

There are also a lot of posts out there for writers about the right way to do things. Write in these genres if you want to make money. Publish this many books a year. Set your books at these prices. Grow your social media presence and build your author platform.

But what if you don’t want to limit your writing to certain genres, or what if you have another life outside of writing and publishing as I do, a life that you don’t want to give up? Does that mean that you won’t have any career as a writer? Not at all. It means that you get to decide what kind of career you’re going to have.

My Tips For Coloring and Writing

1. Color the picture that sings to you. You don’t have to start at the beginning of the book. You decide where to start. If you don’t love the picture, coloring it will be a chore and you’ll never finish it.
2. The same goes for writing. Write something you’re excited to get back to. If you’re not excited about it, it’s going to be hard to convince readers your writing is worth their time.
3. Choose your own colors. You can use a color wheel to examine which colors go together, or you can choose whatever you want to choose because you want to choose it. You can choose them ahead of time, or you can choose them in the moment, whichever feels right to you.
4. For writing, you get to decide how you use language. You have the final say in how you’ll string phrases together. You may not like the way some of it turns out. That’s okay. You tried it, you didn’t like it, so try again until you find something you do like.
5. Don’t compare your pictures (or your writing) to anyone else. Find your own style. That’s the only way you’ll find true enjoyment as a creative person.
6. Coloring (and writing) should be fun. Listen to your favorite music. Turn off your electronic devices and other distractions. Make your coloring (and your writing) time special so you’re looking forward to getting back to it.

You can let the experts tell you what to do and how to do it, or you can find your own way. Whether I’m coloring or writing, I find it a lot more fulfilling to find my own way.