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 Well, not so much fun and leisure as...get some damn writing done, you fool! |
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A while ago, I attended a writers' workshop and the lady who hosted it told us all to go away with this bit of advice - to write for just ten minutes a day. I was determined to go ahead with it and I did...for two days. So today I remembered that I'd resolved to do so and I whipped out my journal and wrote for fifteen minutes. I'm typing out pretty much the same thing that I wrote earlier, with some differences. I find I can go a lot more in-depth when I'm typing than when I'm writing by hand. Writing by hand is such a chore! I've struggled with loneliness a lot throughout my twenty-nine years. I struggled with it when I was the only one home with my mum when I was a teen and everybody else had other places to be. I struggled with it after marriage and when we moved into our own house for the first time. I struggled with it after my son was born and I felt torn between pursuing my writing and being a good mum, because my culture seems to indicate that a woman has absolutely no chance of living her own life - or at least, she has no chance of attaining any goals she hasn't already attained - once she has children. I feel it occasionally still, even though I get so little time to myself nowadays that any alone time is simply awesome. I've tried to come to terms with the idea that being alone isn't a bad thing - and a lot of the time, it isn't. My friends don't live nearby so I don't get to see them often, and even when I do, I feel like there isn't much depth to our conversations. I'm surrounded by people who do not think like me, who do not share any of my interests and hobbies. I feel like I've become desensitised to isolation. Loneliness is my preferred way to be. I walked into my college cafeteria at lunch today and it was the usual hubbub of activity. Youngsters walking around, chatting animatedly, shouting across the room, laughing, eating, socialising. I could recall how that clamour wouldn't have bothered me ten-twelve years ago, when I would have been one of the youngsters talking excitedly with her friends. But, as this moment, I just found an out-of-the-way little table and sat down. I watched the crowds for a while, wondering why it was only at moments like these that the sense of isolation became so strong. In the middle of a crowd, I feel most alone. |
| 12:31 I feel like I don't utilise my blog as much as I should. I don't really enjoy it. I keep coming back to it because it's on my checklist and I want a minimum of ten minutes of writing every day. But I keep looking at the time when I'm writing, to check whether it's been ten minutes. If I had a good topic to write about, I wouldn't even notice the time. I liked the idea of writing my blog from the POV of my characters but the one time I tried it, it felt weird. I mean, I suppose it has potential to make me more aware of my characters' inner workings, but I just wasn't feeling it so I haven't tried it again. I am a writer and I'm writing a blog for the sake of writing but can I write about writing? What do I write about? Maybe I should write a bunch of writing-related suggestions on small pieces of paper and then fold them up and put them in a hat so I can choose a different one every day? But I'm wasting time just doing this ten minute thing every day, because I know I'm capable of so much more. All right, since I've been meaning to get some background information on my Elementals series, maybe I can try mapping it out here. So, the Elementals, who are the rulers of their respective "Provinces": Keeper of the Fire Spirit of the Earth Child of the Water Princess of the Air I have no idea what the world is called. I have no idea if these Provinces are actual countries or if they're four parts of the same land. Province would suggest different parts of the same country, right? I made this up years ago so I can't quite remember what the idea was since I didn't write down any background info about the land/world. After writing the first proper draft for Rift-touched, I'm a bit obsessed with mapping out the small details, like I'm going to fail miserably if I don't. Anyways, so these four Provinces were, once upon a time, living in...harmony. Kind of. Air presided over two, being a key component to make fire burn and to allow for the formation of water. It owes its allegiance to Earth, whose plants gave it birth. Fire is selfish, not aiding any of the others, and owing fealty but unwilling to give it to Earth, whose trees are its fuel. Water nourishes Earth and smothers Fire. Fire is the troublemaker, who could not stand being of the Earth. It wanted independence so it broke away from Earth and Air's rule. It was regarded as the lesser element so it wanted to show its strength. Delving deep beneath the Earth's boundaries, amid stone, it was a weakling and rested to allow itself to grow. Feeding on the stone, reaching higher temperatures and higher levels of destruction. ...I started watching YouTube in the middle of this. I don't know why (O)_(O) But hey, sixteen minutes! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
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