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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. |
| 13:00 Updating this blog after quite a few days now! I couldn't think of something for my reflective journal today so I thought I'd do something about writing instead. I finished proofreading my mermaid story last night. One of the reasons why I put off proofreading is because I think it will be tedious and will take forever, but I think I underestimate myself. I enjoy reading my own stories several months down the line, when they've faded out from memory a bit, but I enjoyed reading this while it was still fresh too. I thought reading over the same passages again and again - making corrections at one point and then going back to find where that detail might conflict with what was already written - would be a pain in the ass. It was, a little bit, but I didn't mind too much. So I've learnt something - I don't need to write a whole story out again to make it palatable. The first draft can be palatable, with a bit of refining. I'd always thought it was better to just redo the whole thing so I have a solid understanding of what I'm working towards and that way, the characterisation will be more consistent. As always, I'm learning new things! I've sent the story to a friend to see what they think. Even if it's just wattpad or Tapas (still can't decide which of the two I should go for), I want my story to be good if I'm going to put it out there. I told my best friend what I want to do and that I'd given the story to someone to have a read before posting it, and she said I should stop worrying about what people think and just do it. I don't know, though. I think it would be nice to have an outsider's perspective before I go ahead. It can't hurt to see what a reader thinks, right? If at any point in the story, I've said something which is not accurate and this inaccuracy has nothing to do with the magic and so on that is present in the story but rather it has to do with my own lack of research or understanding, then I want the opportunity to put it right before I get flamed for it lol. And these apps/websites that I want to submit to have comments enabled lol so...yeah...imagine..."YOU SUCK! GO BACK TO WHATEVER HOLE YOU CRAWLED OUT OF! YOUR STORY'S A WASTE OF SPACE!" O_O somehow, I want to upload it there just to see if that will happen!  13:13 |
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