Write About Writing, They Said. It’ll Be Fun.

I woke up later than I meant to this morning. Read for a bit. No writing. This is writing.

I had a long day at work. No writing. This is writing.

Boyfriend made dinner, and I could’ve written while he was doing that, but I was tired and sore, lazy, Facebook happened instead. No writing. This is writing.

We ate, watched an ep of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. I read some of The Lightning Thief (no spoilers!). I updated my browser and flash player and restarted my computer because everything stopped working mid-sentence and I couldn’t type. No writing. This is writing.

It’s 9:30pm-ish now. The bf and I had made a plan to hang out tonight and write. We live together, so ‘plans to hang out’ don’t really make sense as they normally would, but you know what I mean. He decided to write a short story tonight instead of editing his novel (a fine choice either way). He spent the first 20 mins doing some background research. Scratching his chin. Making little frustrated noises. Not writing. This is writing.

My computer keeps acting up periodically still. My back kinda hurts, I think mostly because I’m trying to type with the laptop literally on my lap – isn’t that weird? This is writing. 

I glance over and see a few paragraphs on his page now. I ask him how it’s going. He shrugs and replies with a meh and that his story is ‘fucked up’, aka challenging, probably. I’m curious to read it when he’s done. This is writing.

I think he’s a good writer, but sometimes he doesn’t think he is. He’s written three novels, some of which will hopefully be published this year or next. We’re doing research on ebooks, marketing, cover design, self-publishing… Not writing. This is writing.

Among a few other things I written and finished but didn’t publish or do anything with other than hand in as assignments, I’ve written the first draft of a feature-length screenplay, mostly thanks to deadlines. I completed it two years ago, and it was an idea brewing in my head for two years before that. Even though I think it’s pretty good, and I’d like to rewrite, edit, and shop it around, I haven’t touched it since and maybe never will.  I’ve also written a few shorts that I haven’t looked back on in years. Abandoned. This is writing.

I used to bring a journal everywhere. I’ve written in one since I was a teenager, like many people, and picked it up again after the fire. It helped a bit then. There were a lot of times that I would bring it places with a plan to write, but wouldn’t write. One of my favourite places was at the beach. Is that cliche? I thought it’d end up being really cool looking, like a scrapbook with ticket stubs, doodles, coffee stains, etc… I guess it has some of that, but mostly it’s just rambling, and trying to figure things out in my life. I have three blank journals that I haven’t even started to write in yet. I even used to hand-make journals. Basically, all not writing. This is writing. … ?

I remember that we had an old typewriter when I was a kid. My parents, for the most part, are pretty technologically advanced (hi mom), so the fact that we had a typewriter was just kinda cool, and doesn’t mean I’m 100 years old. I don’t even remember where it came from or who it belonged to, but I do remember typing a story on it about a cat and a dog or something like that. I was pretty young. I also remember writing a children’s book in high school that I am super proud of and want to publish. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. This is writing.

One of the cats is sitting on the bf’s lap and rubbing his chin on the laptop. He literally has the laptop on top of the cat now (photographic evidence). This is writing.

I hit 500 words already, but I’m not stopping yet. I still have more to say, I guess. I committed to this challenge and I want to keep going. It is helpful to have to think about different ways to present something, to communicate in a more interesting way, to get my brain wired again creatively and be working towards something. This is writing.

Do I want to be a ‘writer’, and keep up this charade and maybe write a novel too (I have ideas!)? I don’t know… but for now, this is fun, frustrating, inspiring, discouraging, exciting, overwhelming, and this is writing.

♥ Daphne