I love writing. Really, other than reading it is the best form of escapism for me. Of course these past couple years another great form of escape came from hopping on my motorcycle and going for long rides out in the country. The difficult thing these past couple years is that I've been at home (with my parents) and in some ways that has beaten down my creativity levels. When I was in high school, then in undergraduate studies, and even my first semester of grad school, writing came so easily to me and I was constantly inspired to just write.
In high school I would get so much done in study halls, and sometimes I would jot down bits and pieces of stories during classes.When I reached college I was living in the dorms and found myself surrounded by so many other creative personalities and it seemed that my stories just poured out of me and I couldn't stop them.
That all started to shift starting with my second semester of grad school. I moved back home and decided to commute because it would save me money. But it took me away from all of the creative minds I was used to being around and left me at home with my mom, dad, and brother. Don't get me wrong; I love my family and I'm really glad that they are letting me stay at home while I try to find a job with one of my college degrees, but it has gotten so much more difficult to write.
I picked out the wall color in my bedroom and decided where each piece of furniture would go. I hung up my posters just like I did in college...but even with all that, something is missing, and it is making the time I spend sitting at my desk feel more like a chore than something I love doing.
Even now I am having issues. I love Souls Abandoned and I really know the characters, but my writing has slowed down severely since the first few days of NaNoWriMo. Okay, yes, here is where I could go into how it is the fault of my family, or all the stress I deal with at work every day, or whatever, but really the problem is with me. I'm not going to try and push the blame onto anyone or anything else. It is my fault that my mental creativity levels are not at optimum levels because I am not capable of pushing aside all the stress from my personal life so I can focus on telling these amazing stories. (Well, okay, I think they're amazing; I'm not sure about other people).
My best day of writing was on November 1st and that was because of the kick-off party. Spending time with many of the other Wrimos in my region was great and it fueled up my creative juices for the rest of the day. I write better when I'm around other people who are also partaking in creative endeavors. If my work schedule was less erratic I would try to have a write-in every day or every other day just to absorb that creative energy.
Someday I will get my library job and I'll be able to move into my own apartment or home. I can honestly say that I hope the writing goes so much better then, because frankly, I do miss sitting at my computer and pounding out several thousand words a day.
* * *
Okay, here I am about ten hours after I wrote that top bit. Yes, those feelings and thoughts still exist, but I did manage to get some writing done...over 3,000 words on a Monday is pretty good. This I can attribute to participating in a Word War with a member of my NaNo region who was hosting a write-in I could not make due to work. I wrote 1,300 words in 30 minutes and then did another word war for 1,400 words in 30 minutes...add those to the few hundred words I wrote this morning and it makes for a pretty decent day.
Later today (because it just now became Tuesday) I am having a write-in with my region. We are checking out a local coffee shop and I'm hoping to be able to add a few more thousand words to my total word count. As it stands now I should definitely be able to hit 30,000 words by the end of the day, but since that is less than 2,000 for the day, I think I'm going to try and aim more for about 35,000...maybe? It sounds like a halfway decent plan. I'd really like to cross the 50,000 word line before Thanksgiving. I am going to a concert the day after Turkey Day and I'd like to be able to relax a little and okay, fine, maybe boast about how I won NaNoWriMo for the seventh year in a row.
I think it is definitely an accomplishment to boast about...right?
Current word count: 28,075
At this rate you will finish on: November 23, 2012 (I think that will change greatly after a high word count day.)
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