Confession: I have not written anything fiction-related since NaNoWriMo ended. Meaning it’s been exactly five months.
Sure, I’ve written other things in the meantime. After all, I’ve cranked out nine blog posts (not including this one). I’ve also been in the mood to do some creative writing in the past few weeks, but I sadly have not acted on it.
I think a large part of it is simply because I don’t know what kind of story to write. I know, I know – I should just start writing anything, and a plot will begin to emerge at some point. It’s how I usually survive and succeed at NaNo every year. But I’ve also been thinking about past stories lately and wondering if I should go back to them. Take that short story and expand upon it or have another go at rewriting one of my previous larger writing projects.
What doesn’t really help is that I’m in the mood to write something involving certain themes or settings or objects. You’d think this would make it easier for me to jump back into writing, but I don’t know how to approach said touchpoints. Anyone got any suggestions on how I can incorporate the idea of a museum composed of taxidermied animals? A farm containing an important well? How about a character looking to save her mentor?
Fun fact: With those first two touchpoints, I actually used them for two separate short stories during my Fiction Writing classes while I was still earning my degree. So part of me is wondering whether I should go back to those stories and develop them more or just create an entirely new story using those settings.
In two weeks, it will also mark one year since I finished my Spring Writing Project 2018. I have not opened or reread that manuscript since I completed it. I feel like I need to go back and read what I wrote a year ago. It’s not something unique enough where I would want to share it with the world, but I mainly want to revisit certain character interactions.
Speaking of characters, they are the ones who keep pulling me back to past stories I have written. There are certain projects where I would love to return to the protagonists, but their actual story/plot needs work. Do I revise their story, or do I create an entirely new story for these characters instead? I’m not usually one who uses the same character for multiple stories, but maybe it’s worth a try?
I think all of this is just my long-winded way of admitting that I have writer’s block. Not sure if it’s a lack of motivation or I need to re-shift my priorities or I’m thinking too hard about the details. Maybe I should force myself to write for a week or two in May, just to get myself back into the game. Kinda like what I did in February.
And if you’ve read this far into my ramblings, thanks.
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
The Two Bowling Parties
Life has been pretty good the last two weeks. By surprise, MARINA dropped half of her album three weeks in advance, so I’ve been listening to that. I haven’t started a new book since I finished my last one on April 1, but I’ve been re-watching waaaay too many Game of Thrones episodes in the meantime, trying to get myself prepared for its season premiere (which was two days ago). And the weather in Michigan is being its typical sporadic self – warm, cold, rain, brief snow, sun. But at least I felt confident enough to put away my boots for the season.
Unfortunately, I feel like I haven’t been as productive as I should have been. Not sure what to do exactly with the dress I mentioned in my last post. I ended up ripping out all of the stitches along the new waistline because everything was looking too bulky. So now I’m not sure if I want to pull out all the manufactured stitches and basically do heavy re-designing or not. I also haven’t done anything in the decluttering department either.
But in a surprise twist for me, I’ve actually had quite the social life the past two weekends. Yay for leaving the house and hanging out with friends!
During the first weekend, one of my friends threw herself a “Grad School Completion Party.” So off I went to celebrate her accomplishments and go bowling, even though I haven’t bowled in a few years and I’m not super great at it. (I only had one gutter ball during the whole two hours, so I was doing better than I thought would. And I was never placed last, so overall, I did okay.)
We took up four lanes. So, twenty people were actively bowling. And then 7-10 people arrived later, who obviously didn’t bowl, and just hung around and conversed with others. It was nice talking with people who I haven’t seen in a few months during the downtime I had while waiting for my turn to bowl. I think my friend, who was the one hosting the party, said it best when I saw her again two days later:
“So many people showed up! I didn’t realize I had so many friends.”
And I sat there thinking, “I didn’t know I had that many friends either!” (Sometimes I forget how many people I actually know/are friends with, not being on social media and all. If I don’t see them on a somewhat regular basis, I have no idea what’s going on in their lives.)
But we weren’t the only party at the bowling alley. Halfway through our reserved time, another party started arriving at the neighboring two lanes. A large bouquet of pink balloons was fastened to their table, and all sorts of small children started to show up.
I stood there wondering why a parent would host a little kid’s birthday party on a Friday night at around 8:30 p.m. Isn’t this almost their bedtime?
Then I saw someone bring along two more balloons. These were gold-colored and foil, not like the rubber pink ones. They were shaped into two numbers: a “3” and a “0.”
This wasn’t a children’s party next to us; it was someone’s (who was probably a parent) thirtieth birthday.
It was a bizarre feeling, comparing my group to theirs. Because even though I didn’t know everyone’s ages at my friend’s gathering, I knew a majority of them, and the large age range we had that night was 22-32. None of us have kids, there was only one married couple, and another was engaged. Yet, the new thirty-year-old next to us was probably married with at least one child. How different our seasons of life were, despite being relatively around the same age.
I wonder if anyone from the other group ever looked over at us and was reminded of their younger days. I hope it made them smile. You know, before they went back to wrangle their kid.
Unfortunately, I feel like I haven’t been as productive as I should have been. Not sure what to do exactly with the dress I mentioned in my last post. I ended up ripping out all of the stitches along the new waistline because everything was looking too bulky. So now I’m not sure if I want to pull out all the manufactured stitches and basically do heavy re-designing or not. I also haven’t done anything in the decluttering department either.
But in a surprise twist for me, I’ve actually had quite the social life the past two weekends. Yay for leaving the house and hanging out with friends!
During the first weekend, one of my friends threw herself a “Grad School Completion Party.” So off I went to celebrate her accomplishments and go bowling, even though I haven’t bowled in a few years and I’m not super great at it. (I only had one gutter ball during the whole two hours, so I was doing better than I thought would. And I was never placed last, so overall, I did okay.)
We took up four lanes. So, twenty people were actively bowling. And then 7-10 people arrived later, who obviously didn’t bowl, and just hung around and conversed with others. It was nice talking with people who I haven’t seen in a few months during the downtime I had while waiting for my turn to bowl. I think my friend, who was the one hosting the party, said it best when I saw her again two days later:
“So many people showed up! I didn’t realize I had so many friends.”
And I sat there thinking, “I didn’t know I had that many friends either!” (Sometimes I forget how many people I actually know/are friends with, not being on social media and all. If I don’t see them on a somewhat regular basis, I have no idea what’s going on in their lives.)
But we weren’t the only party at the bowling alley. Halfway through our reserved time, another party started arriving at the neighboring two lanes. A large bouquet of pink balloons was fastened to their table, and all sorts of small children started to show up.
I stood there wondering why a parent would host a little kid’s birthday party on a Friday night at around 8:30 p.m. Isn’t this almost their bedtime?
Then I saw someone bring along two more balloons. These were gold-colored and foil, not like the rubber pink ones. They were shaped into two numbers: a “3” and a “0.”
This wasn’t a children’s party next to us; it was someone’s (who was probably a parent) thirtieth birthday.
It was a bizarre feeling, comparing my group to theirs. Because even though I didn’t know everyone’s ages at my friend’s gathering, I knew a majority of them, and the large age range we had that night was 22-32. None of us have kids, there was only one married couple, and another was engaged. Yet, the new thirty-year-old next to us was probably married with at least one child. How different our seasons of life were, despite being relatively around the same age.
I wonder if anyone from the other group ever looked over at us and was reminded of their younger days. I hope it made them smile. You know, before they went back to wrangle their kid.
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