It has come to my attention that I have been writing daily for more than five hundred days in a row now. Five hundred and one to be exact. So I can say this with some clarity, a certainty that I didn’t have before. I no longer write here because I feel the need to express myself, though that is a perk, but rather I write now because it has become a habit. It is more automatic, almost autonomous. I like to see the number of entries, and the length of days increase. How far will I take it? That I don’t know. It was at first, a test to see if I could boost my numbers prior to the new year starting which was a three week panicked stretch, and then it followed that I had a miraculous year of creative writing when work had come screeching to a halt, and now it’s so ingrained as a part of my day I find the ten to fifteen minutes needed to write no matter how chaotic my day is. What I’m saying is… I don’t know how long I’ll go for, or even if it means the same thing to me anymore. I have been so busy since January this year that even though I find a little slice of time to jot down a meandering post, I haven’t had the time, creatively, or mentally, to do any creative writing whatsoever. No shorts. No micro-short stories. Nothing beyond a streak maintaining blurb on the heaviest of days or weeks, and gone again.
Sometimes I get so far removed from creative writing I worry that I have lost the touch, or the sense of how to craft a narrative, characters, or meaningful dialogue. The last few years it came back to me after exploring a few select one off short stories. But now my attention is elsewhere. Increased output of the day job, wood working and refining my shop space, building out the resin kit, which takes so much time and effort & planning. So much, so, so much. To be honest I haven’t done any sculpting either, nor found much time to play guitar, or build miniatures and terrain pieces. I am very excited about the new increase in paid work, but I lament just a little, the tiniest bit, that lost creative personal time. But on the plus side, I can afford home repairs, oil changes, gas and groceries once again. And I’m still working from home, and see my kids in the mornings, do school drop offs and pick up, and horse around with my children instead of having to commute, or be in an office 50-60 hours a week fighting to climb a greased up corporate ladder with missing rungs, and its own internal politics. More invoices sent out is good. Less personal creative time is sad, but not a deal breaker. As the previous few years have shown us, nothing is certain, nor carved in stone. It could all dry up and go away at a moments notice. So I’ll take what I can handle, or slightly more so, and plan for those gaps in work accordingly.
Today is Saturday April 29th, 2023. The rains started yesterday afternoon, and plan to stick around until the end of next week, according to early forecasts. Umbrellas and boots for all for the next seven to ten days. But by the time it stops the world outside should be verdant & green. The heat will begin to turn up, and the shorts will come out, and sun screen will need to be applied once more. Gotta love it. Ciao Bella!
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