https://play.ht/articles/4a067a603d2e
I thought I would write these journal entries every day, but God laughs when you have a plan, ha? Instead, I submitted an article to C.R.Y Mag and continued drafting a WIP to keep myself writing.
I’ve been thinking about several pieces and comments that deal with, ‘You don’t have to write that novel when you are in quarantine.’ Although it is not for me, I completely get it. When someone has that sentiment, they are trying to take the pressure off having to write a novel (which is a massive endeavor) in an already turbulent time.
But what if writing keeps you sane? I mean, it does for me.
Writing is my me-time. Me and the cursor in my Mac notepad, all alone, just us and my fictional world and memories. I destress by writing on Medium, writing fiction, reading for pleasure, and reading for class. This gives me something to do.
I am that person who will clean the whole house twice to keep busy. At least by writing, I don’t give my family bleach headaches.
However. I’m giving myself permission to NOT watch the news. I’ve changed from my morning routine. I don’t turn on the news first thing in the morning and watch while I’m eating breakfast. As a matter of fact, I don’t put it on at all. I was getting nightmares.
In the reply to the article, I wrote like, “We are all so different. We are our own worlds…”
I think the message we should be lovingly passing to another is how to deal with the current stressors in a way that works for us and is healthy.
General advice about what one should or should not do does not fit everybody. Articles like that should carry a disclaimer. Much the same way it is in most of the writing craft books I read. The author writes of process and closes it with: Do what works for you and your story.
We need that disclaimer. We are not one-size-fits-all-people.
How can someone say you don’t have to do something to another who feels that something is the only thing keeping them from crawling the walls?
When I’m under stress, I don’t want to think (period). Because the thought that is causing the stress is ruminating inside my head. If I go in there, I will see it. If I peek at it, I will see it. It goes around over, and over like clothes in a drying cycle. The way I shut it off is by doing things that require little thought.
- Writing
- Reading
- Running
- Watching Ace Ventura Pet Detective movies
Maybe I want to write that novel — Love in the Time of Coronavirus — I borrowed that from Stephen King’s twitter feed. Writing fiction is an escape that takes me outside of here and into another world. While everything else changes by the minute, words are the only thing constant and known in my life.
I’m giving myself permission to write as much or as little as I want. To sketch characters and fall into my fictional world because at least I know how it ends there. Not so much here.
PS: If you noticed. I’m getting smarter in editing my articles on Medium. If you are new, like me and want to know how here is the info.
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