“All your friends seem like enemies, when you’re broken down and empty. “So say goodbye to love, and hold your head up high. There’s no need to rush. We’re all just waiting, waiting to die.”
Okay, so why are those lyrics so darn relatable?
Kind of depressing lyrics/quote to start things off with, no? Well, keep reading for further context.
Technology update from this week is just more of the same with my mail program. My new computer seems to be unable to function properly because there are so many. VoiceOVer’s favourite thing to say, when it just can’t work well enough to let me even send an email: “Busy…busy…busy…” I’m beginning to hate that word.
😦
Do you ever feel like you’re so far behind and you’ll never catch up, in emails or just life in general?
Well, I feel that way, but I know it’s small in the grand scheme of things, as this week has been full of more heartbreaking headlines and tragedies and some political filibustering too. (Just love that word.)
Once more, I make the effort to find things for which I am intensely thankful.
For a successful video chat connection with my writing mentor.
She helps me narrow in on what I’m doing with my writing. I’m glad the technology allowed us to speak again.
She writes about “multiple blooms” – getting more than one chance in life, to become something or create something worthwhile, to bloom like flowers bloom.
This week, on June 16th, it was Bloomsday, like on every June 16th, going back one hundred years.
Irish writer JAmes Joyce’s Bloomsday explained.
I’ve spent so much energy and time coming down hard on myself because I haven’t read all the things there are out there to read. I haven’t written all I want to write yet. Talking to a mentor helps me realize that’s okay. I work on trying not to look at it like I am far behind in these things. It’s not a race.
So, Bloomsday is a day to celebrate James Joyce and his novel “Ulysses” which I haven’t managed to read, though I started it a few years ago.
For a winner so far for best writing group night.
We are a lovely little core group who mostly show up each week. We help each other, cheer each other on, remember one another’s writing and ask how it’s going.
This time involved popsicles.
🙂
The challenge was to write as much as we could, while holding our popsicles, to see how far we could get before they melted.
This is where I feel irritated because I can’t fit in, necessarily do the same as everyone else, and so I adapt. I write on my Braille Display with one hand, while holding and eating my popsicle with the other. It’s not easy to type braille letters and words with only one free hand. I don’t like to get all sticky from a melting popsicle. I managed two sentences, which ended up turning into a pretty cool bit of writing by the end of it all.
This particular time just seemed to produce some awesome ideas and stories from all of us. A few of us may have been sleep deprived, but that lead to some cool storylines.
For a return from trouble with technology.
And so I’d started a story last time, thanks to unforeseen real life events with the group, mostly unexpected religious discussions, and I came out of that awkward situation with the seeds of the perfect story to submit to a Canadian short story contest.
Well, I finished it last week and brought it to read for the group. They loved it. I could tell they were moved. They commented on my incredible level of insight, which they really did say.
But then I pressed a wrong button, overrode that story with my new one, and so I had the opportunity to rewrite it, this time keeping the basic structure and plot points, but narrowing it down to the word limit of 750, as the contest requires. I plan to submit and I like what I’ve got.
Sometimes things work out.
That I get to witness another year of marriage for my wonderful parents.
They arrived at 37 and it is a beautiful thing to see. It’s teamwork at its best. It’s my foundation. (No pressure there guys.)
For time to sit and observe by the lake that bears my province’s name.
I am trying to become more aware of my surroundings. I can’t go to the ocean so easily, but I am lucky to live near the Great Lakes. This time it was Lake Ontario.
I sat and watched the boats and the listened to the birds and felt the breeze off the water.
For opening acts that don’t entirely suck.
Many concerts I go to I am unimpressed by the musical act that opens the show. This time, the guy was weird with some of the things he said in between songs, but I was undeniably swept up in how catchy his lyrics were. The sound was great and I was able to sit comfortably and enjoy his Austin, Texas accent. He was a bit of a musical Matthew McConaughey and, surprisingly, I liked it.
For a perfect night for a concert and a lovely outdoor venue to be able to make the most of it.
I love live music, but all the noise and commotion is often enough to cause me head pain that leaves me questioning why I put myself through that.
The answer is because I get headaches, but I won’t let that stop me from enjoying music that I love.
Well, this is an outdoor venue, by the water. It’s open and I sit on the grassy hill and I let the evening air and the music wash over me.
For lovely time spent with my father.
It was Father’s Day Eve and I knew he’d like the band. I know many would do anything to be able to enjoy something like that with their own fathers. I was happy to be there, with as he said, was probably the oldest person at the show. Well, I felt old listening to all the twenty-something’s all around me. So we focused on the incredible show before us.
For the song lyrics I wrote getting their first live performance.
My brother and his musician friends played a selection of covers and the song he and I wrote, which has a phenomenal singer. The drummer is the best around.
A family reunion and the woman at the helm of it all wanted my lyrics to be played, as entertainment for her family day. I wished I could have been there to hear it, but my brother said the whole thing was a big hit.
For a band like the one I just saw live.
Music and family are, once more, at the heart of my gratitude list.
A band like City and Colour has a very mellow sound. That’s why I love them, the lead singer’s voice. Many of their songs allow me to express the sadness I feel, the crappier parts of life, but somehow, listening to these songs helps.
“I know that we’re takin’ chances, you told me life was a risk. But I just have one last question…will it be my heart or will it be his?”
Her Headache 
“But then I pressed a wrong button, overrode that story with my new one…”
I saw that first part of the sentence and felt an echo of the feeling that comes from this evil-capriciousness of modern technology! We are all so easily taken in by the ease of writing on a computer… ‘hey, clark type away! nothing to worry about!’ until the time comes and, to make matters worse, it’s often by our own hands that we wipe out the thing we create.
Glad (to continue that paragraph) and find that things ended well after all.
…short stories are, like 1000 words? I know all too little about the structure of stories, short, short-short, novellas and the like, sounds like it can be fun to write…sort of a Post with a plot (not something I’m overly familiar with). lol
I was so upset, but sometimes being forced to rewrite something can produce a result even better than the first. Luckily, this was the case for me this time. Everything can be gone with the press of one wrong button though.
I don’t know why the word limit for this particular contest is so small, but it forces me to work to brevity. This is not my best ability, but it is a valuable thing to learn.
Well, they say life is terminal, and it’s one of the certainties of it. If we approach it in a ‘matter of fact’ way, perhaps that lessens the fear which surrounds the idea of it ending. Maybe.
Glad the writing group is going so well, even if all of their activities aren’t quite right for you. It sounds as though you made the best of a bad job, and came out with something top notch, so I hope it goes brilliantly in the competition, and I wish you all the best with it 🙂
Lessening the fear. I would like to know the secret to that, but haven’t found it yet.
Thanks for the well wishes and luck Lizzi.
🙂
Do I ever feel like I’m so far behind that I’ll never catch up? YES! I’m trying to refocus my idea of completion. Instead of getting worried about my ever-growing to-do list, I’m trying to think more in terms of, “Did I do good things in the time I had today?” If the answer is yes, it doesn’t matter so much what was left undone. At least that is what I’m trying to convince myself. 🙂
That is a hugely worthwhile goal.
🙂
I’m with you on that for sure.
So far behind I feel like I’ll never catch up? Well, let’s put it this way… As a former colleague of mine used to say (he was a cross country coach), “I’m so far behind I’m lapping myself.” That always struck me as so funny and so very true some days. 😀
Glad the writing group is a help to you. There’s one here at our library, but it’s specifically geared toward memoir writing. Meh.
That is a great line Lisa.
🙂
I have never been able to run fast enough to keep up with life.
😉
Well, the group here is mostly fiction and that’s where I wanted to get some practice. I write a lot of memoir as is. I hope to write a nice mix of both.
I often feel like I’m so far behind I will never catch up (note how late I am in reading this post)!!! I *try* to keep up on reading others’ blogs, I even have posts emailed to me so I won’t forget, but they just pile up in my inbox and I get overwhelmed! I suppose we all do the best we can, right?
Your writing mentor and your writing group both sound wonderful!! I guess Lizzi is kind of my mentor. She reads almost everything I write before I publish it but I refer to her as my BlogSister rather than my mentor. I would like to have a writing group, though, something like that might encourage me to write more.
This is a lovely list of thankfuls, I’m glad you have so many good things in your life to keep you positive! ❤
Thank you.
🙂
I am sure Lizzi is a tremendous help to you. Having even one person who can help offer just a little pinch of guidance makes all the difference.
Yes. Surely. The blogs pile up in my email too. I read as much as I possibly can, but some will inevitably fall through the cracks from time to time.
Thanks for finding some time to read my post this time.