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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. |
| Time: 12:53 Aah, these are good times! I'm writing on the computer today, as opposed to on my phone, which is a nightmare. I've just glanced over some of my entries and it's astounding that a few paragraphs actually took ten minutes or more to write! I suppose typing things out on the phone takes a bit longer. But it's so convenient. Might have to stop though, since this feels much better. I can see all of what I've already typed, rather than just a few lines at a time. I wrote my short story prompt last night. My deadline was 5th April, till midnight, but I was 17 minutes over and something like 46 words over my word count limit of 2000. I believe it's the first time I've ever done something like that but it was a good experience. I focused the story on one of the villain's minions from my novel. I can't remember now if I've mentioned this in another entry - I probably have, since I'm always stuck on what to write about so I go with whatever comes to mind. Since the prompt was such a positive experience, I'm going to do it again. And hopefully, this time, not leave it till the last minute! Something a bit longer, perhaps about 5000 words. Maybe on some of the characters from my novel, maybe entirely new characters. Who knows? I will have to think about it a little more. The reason I'm writing so early (...is it early?) is because I realised when I made a checklist for the things I want to accomplish today, all the things I do on there usually happen on an evening and it's a mad scramble to get them done, which doesn't leave nearly enough time for each activity. So I'm trying to space things out and then give myself more time for creative pursuits in the evening. Looking back on my entry so far, it isn't an awful lot, is it? And yet, sometimes, when I remember that I've yet to write my blog, I'm like "aww, for ****'s sake!" But it's only a few rather short paragraphs. That isn't difficult at all, but laziness has such a habit of getting in the way that even ten minutes seems like an insurmountable challenge at times. That's eleven minutes done! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
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