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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. |
| 21:26 The prompt for today asks what the worst thing is about cleaning up after a big outdoor barbecue. To be honest, I've never had to do anything after any barbecue I've been to, because the only ones I've been to have been hosted by my parents and I was still quite young at that time so I didn't have to pitch in with clean up, and it hadn't been that big of an event anyway. My sister and I held classes from home for the Muslim kids of our community for a few years and, when my son was born, I said I wanted to honour this event by making one day a little unusual for the kids. So we had a barbecue. But because we were pressed for time - the class had only lasted for an hour and a half - our brother did the barbecuing for us beforehand. So there wasn't much to do. One of the kids who used to come to us to learn had special needs so her mum always stayed with her and she's a lovely lady so she stayed to help out. Lazy git that I am, I managed to avoid pitching in  On a side note, let me squee about the book I'm reading at the moment. I was first introduced to Brandon Sanderson's novels a few years ago - actually, probably the year my son was born, thinking back on it now, so that should make it easy to remember! I started out reading the Way of Kings, the first book of the Stormlight Archive, and it was surprising because although I have read some doorstopper high fantasy novels, I didn't think I'd find it interesting on account of the opening just throwing me straight into the midst of the story, with all these details about the world Sanderson had crafted. But it was a pretty interesting world. I kept reading and I loved it. I've read a few of his other works, although I didn't much like Mistborn. I guess I just didn't find Vin very relatable, although I was intrigued by Kelsier - like most of the fandom, I'm sure. Anyways, yes, the book I'm on right now is the third of the Stormlight Archive, called Oathbringer. It was released a couple of years ago so finding one that was cheap enough for a poor person like me to buy without feeling massively guilty has taken some time, although my search wasn't particularly frantic. But now that I have it, I am so excited! I can't wait to finish, but then I don't want to start because then it'll be over too soon! I did start but I've not allowed myself loads of time to read it because I don't want to get through it too quickly. I'm trying out the idea of letting the story sink in, bit by bit, so I can remember more stuff as I progress. I'm learning to analyse the stories I read too, in an effort to help my own writing. I'm not yet sure if that detracts from my enjoyment of the story - I suppose I'll be able to tell as I read on! 21:45 ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
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