Search where?

This Portfolio (shiki105)

All of Writing.Com

◄ August ► 2019
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Archive				RSS

Create New Item

Read & Review

Community

Browse By Type

Browse By Genre

Writing Resources

Thu, Jul 3, 2025

8:45pm EDT

Members: 741

Guests: 2,140

Total Online: 2,881

Writing for Fun and Leisure

by LazyWriter

Rated: 13+ · Book · Personal · #2186370

Well, not so much fun and leisure as...get some damn writing done, you fool!

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.

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Kåre เลียม Enga

Nov 9, 2019 at 6:55pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

I've made that mistake... but here I sit in the kitchen area... no glass in hand.

Kit_Carmelite

Oct 31, 2019 at 9:36pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

We creative types are often slaves to our feelings. If we don’t “feel” like doing something, it is so much harder for us to push past that to “just do it” than for less emotional and more structured types.

Jaelynn

Sep 3, 2019 at 3:39pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

LOL. You're not alone, my friends.... I do this all the time.
Pssst... join the club (we meet on Tuesdays

)

Best of luck with your next streak, LazyWriter

LdyPhoenix

Sep 3, 2019 at 2:34pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

I feel you on remembering a task and then prompting forgetting to do. Even though I know myself enough, I always mentally tell myself "in a moment" or "in two shakes of a lamb's tail", and then immediately forget what I was planning to do next, lol.

You'll do great building up your language streaks again. I wish you all the luck with it in the future.

An apple a day....

Aug 12, 2019 at 1:46pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

Any writing is better than no writing. I do admire busy people who can make time to write. I'm retired and have no excuses except procrastination. Keep up the good work!

Kåre เลียม Enga

Aug 2, 2019 at 11:48pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

Reminds me of country "I've done someone wrong" songs we have here in the USA. Have fun with it.

Kåre เลียม Enga

Jul 31, 2019 at 7:53pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

A blog can be anything you want it to be. I have one for opinions, for personal stuff, for when I travel, based on the news. I've used them for poetry and contests and challenges.

And I've changed focus over time. When I was homeless years ago, Blogville was my online home. I backed up most of those entries and still can access many. Some day they may provide grist for a memoir of that time. I was also writing in my hand-written journal. Without that any looking back would be devoid of the details I have long forgot.

Just sitting down every day for 10-20 minutes and writing whatever comes to mind counts, especially if it keeps you writing.

Kåre เลียม Enga

Jul 28, 2019 at 11:17pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

Laziness or lack of focus or overwhelm? You may be being a bit hard on yourself.

I'd never heard of "Umbrella Academy" so I looked it up. Intriguing trailer but I don't have Netflix so I'll just have to wait.

Kåre เลียม Enga

Jul 25, 2019 at 10:00pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

You do well for short blogs. You do well squeezing the time in with a small child. Basically... you do well.

Kåre เลียม Enga

Jul 20, 2019 at 4:17pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

I don't write fan-fiction but I have other writing obsessions, moving from one unfinished project to the next.

Which is why I was so proud of myself when I finished a chapbook in 2015 of poems I had written in 2013.

Now if in 2019 I could just gather my scattered thoughts from 2018, 2017, 2016...

Don't feel too bad. Many of us have the same struggles.

August 12, 2019 at 3:19am

#964085

You can do it, Shiki!

08:09

I didn't get enough sleep last night but I got up bright and early. It's a good feeling, being up before the little one and having some time to myself. It's much better this way, rather than relying on a few hours after he's gone to bed and then running late and going to bed at like one or two in the morning in pursuit of the muse. I'm freshened up and know that I can't spend hours and hours here since my son will be up soon, which provides some much-needed urgency in trying to get things done.

I've tackled a bit more of my assignment and done some writing. I've read some Qur'an and done a bit of my languages. With this entry done, that will be 2.5 items out of three crossed off my daily checklist. A great start to the day!

Now I'm going to get my son fed and ready and then we'll be heading out to my parents' house for Eid, where we will see lots of family over the course of the day. The adults typically give the kids money and, if we're lucky, some of us adults will get some from our parents. Good times, good times! I wish I was a kid again :(

And somehow that short entry has led to nine minutes passing by just like that. I hope that's not indicative of the rest of the day! I thought waking up early would stretch out my time a little!

08:19

** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only **

Comment • View 1 comment

Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/books/item_id/2186370-Writing-for-Fun-and-Leisure/day/8-12-2019