Realigning Oneself

In the game of life, there are many things that throw us off course of what we expect.  No, I'm not talking of the actual board game.  Life has taken on several roles for this household in the last week, so getting back into that writing mode has been slightly difficult.  Okay, then: a lot difficult.

Before I became ill, I had over 5,200 words on paper, was finished with chapter two and overly excited to take on the third.  I was working on my writing exercises, reading everyday, and feeling that flow begin to spill forth onto the page, or, monitor.  Then... you know the story.  I woke up with an insane headache and stomach ache, later developed a fever, and the rest is pretty much the same as whenever else I become ill.

Now, I am feeling wonderful, ready to get back on track, and life has a few other options for me.  Or at least, demands that need to be taken care of.  Oh, the joys of the journey of life.  In retrospect, you realize how happy or how life-altering things are, while I'm determined to attempt to see them whilst they are occurring.  So, at the moment, I am sensing a need for direction and motivation, which I am going to answer in the affirmative.

This does not mean I am not going to write.  In actuality, it means I must write, but I must also address the other things that call for my action in life.  This is what the blog is all about, no?

How do you fit writing into everyday life?  How do you fit writing into the type of life where things change at any moment, from slow to drowning, or worse, the type of life that is always running at full charge, without change in speed in any and all directions?  You tell me.

This is where I always became discouraged in my writing career.  Other things need addressing, so how do I balance both?  I won't lie and say this is a new day for me, but I will say that now, being 27 years old, and being through a lot in the last 9 years, my perspective isn't as bleak as I could pretend it to be.  Yet it's still tempting to allow myself to forget that and sink into the "woe is me" phase.

Positivity helps.  That is one thing I have learned.  I'm not talking about over-enthusiastic, unrealistic optimism.  I'm talking about not beating yourself up if you simply can't get to writing that day.  If you can write, write anything.  It doesn't need to be your novel if you know that you don't have the time or the frame of mind, but it can be a poem, a song, a quote, a haiku, even a journal entry.

I know that I am writing this entry, and this certainly helps, for me.  I also know that if a window opens, I will take it.  For now, however, we will have to allow life in, and allow ourselves to live it, but that will never mean abandoning our writing.  That is where another constant can be in a world of ever-changing scenes.

I'm not sure if anyone ever has this all figured out, but that's where you come in.  I need some ideas to keep my creative juices flowing in this time.  Where do you all go when life gets this crazy?  How do you cope?  And how, if you do take a break from writing, do you get yourself to pick it back up again without putting it off for another 3 years?  Please share.  I'm not you, so I wouldn't know your answer.