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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. |
| 11:38 What three things do I take with me if I'm going on a long trip, excluding toiletries and clothing? Hmm... 1. A notebook - a notebook is all-round entertainment. You can draw games to play with those around you, in a pinch. You can jot down ideas for stories. Plan stories. Make a start on stories. Write random character-building scenes for stories. Oh, and I guess you can write poems too, if you're into that sort of thing. You could doodle, or draw proper sketches. Outline scenes for your stories - if you're any good at drawing perspectives, which I'm crap at. You could always rip pages out and start doing origami. Or make a bucket list of books you'd like to read or things you'd like to do. Or write an essay on the meaning of life, if you're really, truly bored. 2. A book. Because I'm a bookworm and it's important to let people know that. It's a shield against people who want to make awkward conversation. Of course, some people are dense and will continue talking at you even if you've put up a book. But that really ought to be their problem, shouldn't it? 3. My imagination. The sky's the limit with this one, right? I know it's a part of me so it goes where I go, but it's nice to know you have this resource to tap into if things are really slow. If I have a good enough idea and my imagination at hand, I could get lost in the story for hours. Good times, good times. Although, usually, this mostly works when I'm lying in bed and really ought to go to sleep but would rather let the story play out instead :D 11:48 ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
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