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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. |
| 18:15 The prompt for today asks participants to list 5-10 songs that they would have playing at their barbecue. I'm sure I've mentioned somewhere that I don't really listen to music, as such. I listen to songs but typically songs with no music, which are usually Islamic. I like Zain Bhikha and Maher Zain. Zain Bhikha just takes a me back to my childhood. I love his stuff, even some of the new songs he's put out for kids. Maher Zain is something of a new voice - I have no idea how long he's been active but I've been listening to his stuff for a few years now. The traditional Islamic songs that I knew were in Urdu and often quite sombre, with lots of drawn out vocals, but Zain Bhikha and Maher Zain are quite modern. In fact, I would say that one of the ideas behind these songs is to provide an alternative to mainstream music, so that it resonates with young Muslims and has a positive message, but people have accused them of sounding too popy (poppy? Popish? Pop-like? Popesque?) Oh well. To each his own? One song I really like, which I would definitely have at my barbecue - if I was one to play music at any get-togethers - is Who I Am, by Zain Bhikha. It's not religious in nature - rather, it's about the young people of South Africa finding their identity in the wake of Apartheid. It's a great song. Although I say I don't listen to music, I was watching a Chinese drama some months back and one of the background songs in it caught my attention so I looked it up. It's called River, by Bishop Briggs. Half the reason why I like it so much is because it's called River and that's the name of the protagonist of my novel. Yeah...  18:30 ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
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