Everyday Canvas

Avoidances and Wandering

For "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" 

Prompt “Cats are dangerous companions for writers because cat-watching is a near-perfect method of writing avoidance,” says Dan Greenburg.
What other excuses like cats make your mind wander and take you away from your writing?

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Excuses? Let me count the ways. The fact is, I prefer reading to writing. So, reading is A number one.

I feel richer and illumined while reading, while writing is excavation. It is digging into yourself, your brain, the hidden parts of your psyche, and all that you have gathered as know-how in your life. It is hard work. No wonder some prefer cat-watching.

Aside from reading, my methods of avoidance include:

• Housework: It needs to be done, doesn’t it?

• Sewing, mending, clearing out the closets, etc.

• Plants. Although I don’t have too many, at least not as many as I had when I was much younger. Since they are scattered in the house and back and front yards, they can take a good amount of time.

• Of Microsoft’s Word games, Word Twister

• Mahjong (2 different kinds)

• Solitaire but not too much. This can get boring and annoying. So I probably play only one game a day.

The fact is, I don’t consciously avoid writing. I think this happens because I like doing other things, too. On the other hand, I have a couple of novels unfinished, a slew of others only in the first draft, and a whole bunch of other writings that need organization, plus a lot of ideas that need to be attended to. And yet…..

Well, go figure!

For: "Space Blog Group" 

Prompt: From Lostwordsmith ’s "Invalid Item"  "Not all those who wander are lost".
What do you think this means? Analyze and report.

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I am rather hesitant to answer this question. I am not a goal-oriented person and not a good example to other writers. Believe it or not, I did start my adult years as a strictly goal-oriented woman, but life has a way of distracting a person, and for good reasons, too. Mine were family and kids, travel, a slight switch in my vocation, plus other ever-changing hobbies and things.

However, these excuses are not entirely correct. Strict goals feel sinister and demanding to me, and being a half-cooked perfectionist, I make myself miserable trying to meet them. This is one of the reasons, I stay away from the “weekly goals” thing on Newsfeed here in WdC, which is very useful to most writers.

I think, maybe I am an organized wanderer, while I like being spontaneous within reason. Spontaneity lets me find meaning in all things, and not because I am an aimless nomad, uncertain of direction. Mostly, I am rather curious about life and wandering can cause me to come upon unplanned yet interesting avenues.

I just don’t like to plan my every move, and this doesn’t mean I don’t make any plans. It means I make plans loosely so my life has some bit of organization, while I keep my plans adaptable unless I have promised others to do something at a certain time. In that case, I am strict with myself. This is only because I can’t expect others to wander along with me.