writing exercised

Well. I did it. Albeit not on Saturday afternoon, as there were house chores to be done and drinks and dinner with friends to be had. I thought about doing it on Sunday, but was too busy procrastinating by scrubbing my floors, cupboards and house clean. The cleanest it's ever been in fact, all thanks to the lovely Portland weather we've been having.

The more I cleaned, the more I pushed back my writing goal, until it was so far down on my to-do list that paying bills was deemed priority. 

Lucky for me, I gave myself an absolute deadline of sharing my writing goal on this blog. And as is so often the case with me, I would rather save face and meet my deadline no matter how crappy the end result. So here I am on Monday night having just finished re-writing word-for-word a book review by Dorothy Parker published in the New Yorker on February 4, 1928.

I don't know if I gained anything from this exercise other than a better appreciation for Parker's incredible wit and sense of humor and a wish that more writings published resembled her sense of style and truth. So much of what is written today seems censored, cookie cutter and saccharine sweet, or, boring, pretentious and stuffy. I also now know how to spell the word acquaintance without the help of Spell Check. She seemed to use that word a lot in this particular review.

Tip of the Day: Keep writing

P.S. Tomorrow I plan to try my hand out at my own book review. It will most likely be censored, cookie cutter and saccharine sweet.

my writing process

I often don't know what I'm going to write about each day when I tap "new post" on Blogger. In fact most days I don't even "feel" like writing, but I do it anyway. Each night I lay in my bed, one eye buried in the pillow with the other eye ablaze with the light of my phone from which I write. I know. How lazy can a person be?

But what amazes, probably no one but myself, is that more often than not, I publish something each weekday. There is some drive from within that types the words out at night, in bed, when I should be sleeping. It is in the quietness of the night, the aloness of a house darkened and hushed. It is perhaps the only part of my day that I am free to be with my thoughts- inbetween slumber and my daily routine.

Tip of the Day: Keep writing!

When Life Get's in Your Way

One of the lessons I got out of the process of writing a book was a lesson in: “How to achieve your goal, when life get’s in your way.”  For me, life is my 9-5 day job, my two hour bus commute each day, the time I spend reading blogs online, watching movies, paying bills, hanging out with friends, cooking meals, thinking about what to bring to a party…the list goes on. 

All of these things are distractions and take up a lot of my time. However I realized that by re-prioritizing some of these things, I do have  spare time that can be used creatively.

I have to consciously remind myself, many times a day, that I want to spend my spare time writing, reading and moving around/ exercising.  I hope eventually this becomes a habit, but for now it is an active process. 

 Thought of the Day: What are you doing in your spare time?