Dear Diary,
These past seven days have been emotionally exhausting. I may have shared the same sentiment last time I talked to you and, if that is the case, then I apologise for repeating myself. Oh, and welcome to another week in paradise!
What seems ridiculous to say is that the emotional exhaustion is related to work. I would like to concur with people, who bang on about how work is just work, but I cannot. I am at work more than I am not at work. In what world then is something, which occupies the majority of my waking hours, not going to affect me mentally and emotionally if it is going wrong or through a stressful period? I am not to bring the ‘outlandish’ idea that, supposedly, people should experience fulfilment from their jobs and do what they love. If we are to believe this mantra, should we not feel proud then, when our work indeed defines us?
‘Nuff said. I am nervous about such time when I, or someone close to me, fall ill or a bereavement strikes someone I know. How will I cope then? No wonder people throw in the towel (or their bodies do it on their behalf by gifting them a physical ailment or a mental breakdown).
I have not helped myself by not sleeping enough. For those, who have done The ‘Artist’s Way’, I am sticking to Morning Pages but, in order to do them and secure an hour worth of writing before I start work, I rise at 5am. In the evenings, typically, I am not in bed before 11:30pm. You do the maths.
As a result of everything stated above, I have been reaching for the bottle of grape juice far too often…Knowing the recommended alcohol units per week in the UK, I reckon I will be in trouble if I carry on like this. H-E-L-P!
The Week’s Round-Up
The poet, whom I spoke of last week, made it to Writing Group on Friday. Having someone, with a slightly different specialty to the rest of us, joining in was fun and, without a doubt, beneficial for our writing skills. With him, he brought a collection of ‘fictions’ by Tania Hershman. If you are unfamiliar with Tania, she writes short stories and flash fiction in the main, having published nine books. He offered to lend “My Mother Was an Upright Piano” and I expressed a desire to borrow it. It will assist in ridding myself of this reading rut (I hope), since the works in this collection are mostly under a thousand words, I would say. On top of that, it can also teach me a thing or two about writing flash.
You may sit there and think that I have gone a little OTT on Writing Groups, especially as I tell you I have become a member of another, and you may be right. It is a rather long story: the organisation, with which I am completing my online Creative Writing course, has a Discord channel. Through it, I found an advanced online Writing Group, with their own Discord channel. Amongst other things, they meet every four to six weeks to discuss previously submitted work. I was lucky to join them when I did, for a meet up was on the cards. We spent two hours on Thursday evening, discussing submissions from four of us, on Zoom. They were very kind and welcoming. I was immediately at ease. To them, I read half a story that I had been working on, and they were very complimentary. A couple of improvement areas were identified, and I will be considering those in the editing process. I am looking forward to our next meet-up!
On Saturday evening, I went for a double Birthday celebration at a Curry House. Waiters and, the Chef in particular, must laugh their behinds off, for I am not into spicy food. The mind must be boggling: why go to an Indian restaurant if all you are going to eat is plain as anything?!
The Little Things
Helping a colleague try to sort out her car; I was prepared to push, and I corralled a few others to do the same. But errr, one word: Tesla.
Either thanks to the in-person and online Writing Groups I have joined, or my Creative Writing course, or both, or neither, I have been rather inspired recently. I am, by no means, not up against it but I seem encouraged to work on different projects. While it makes sense for those interactions to have positively impacted my writing routine, I secretly hope it is none of them because what happens when my Creative Writing course ends, or the Writing Group stops meeting?
On Saturday morning, I remained in bed writing Assignment Two for my Creative Writing course. I had reservations about how productive I would be, but I surprised myself! Later, I had to return to it and edit, but the bulk of the work was done before I had even formally started the day! #winning