PJL's Write Life

Well, I am pleased to say that after last month's post I have written more. After that initial story, I had a nice 3 days streak of micro-fiction writing. Then I got too tired and didn't write much more. Then I got a second job at Sault Historic Sites as a cashier at 1 of 3 museums that meant a 6 day work week. I was certain that meant no writing was going to happen for a bit then. But this new second job is different than other jobs I've had. It's the first time I've had a job where I didn't spend the entire shift running around like a chicken with my head cut off. In the past, I've mostly worked restaurants as a line cook. If you've held those sorts of jobs, you know there is not much downtime and if there is, well, you're boss probably said, "If you have time to lean, you have time to clean." Meaning if you weren't serving customers, you were cleaning some part of the restaurant. Breaks were often cut short because of orders. Restaur...

Last month , I talked about the energy my brain requires to write and how the majority of mine has been channeled into finding ways to make ends meet and get the bills paid. I was getting to the point where I was starting to get curious just how long I'd go without writing some fiction. Because my brain can be a jerk like that. I once signed up for Nano only to have my brain decide I shouldn't write a single word out of pure spite for Nano. I can fully see my brain deciding to see how long it can keep the no writing streak going just for the lolz. Then I did a little interview with a fellow writer over on Substack, Natalie Philips , and would you look at that. A little creative spark flew to live in my noggin' and I opened a WIP and wrote a little 200-word story. It may not be much, but after a 3 month dry spell, it feels like I just climbed a mountain. It feels amazing. Despite life being lifey (coming up on 1 year since hubby got fired) I still have the words hidden insid...

I almost didn't have a post for this month. If you recall last month , I said life was lifey and with hubby's continued lack of job, writing had taken a back seat in my life. I haven't written anything outside of some newsletter posts, but the night before IWSG, I had something to talk about so here I am. And that's how I don't really see much discussion on how writing takes energy. In the writing community, we like to joke, "Butt in chair and write." I often feel like its said in a way that implies that because you are sitting down to write, you are not exerting energy. That couldn't be farthest from the truth. At least not for me. The main reason my writing has ground to a halt is because I don't have the spare brain power for fiction. All my noggin energy is going to figuring out how to get the bills paid for the month. We are now at the point where we have to start drawing from savings. I don't work enough at Salvation Army to cover even ha...

I had a completely different post written for June about how May went for me. (Spoiler, there was no fiction writing and little other writing. Life was lifey.) Then I watched this video from Becca Syme and her words really resonated with me. I have definitely been missing a lot of joy when it comes to writing. My assumption was it was because of my two day jobs. If I combine both, I am pulling 10 hour work days and on my feet for both with one having a lot of people interaction and running around. I routinely get over 8,000 steps in at Salvation Army. By the end of it, I am out of gas and I fall asleep on the couch after dinner. But then Becca started talking about life's stakes and how those can derail the best writing plans. I realized, I was living in a very high stakes moment.   Hubby is still job hunting. His unemployment is long gone. We've just about used up the money from our tax refund. What we have in savings is going to start draining because I don't work enough ...

The other day on Substack, a post was going around of someone who had complied their list of top fiction writers. It was a solid list with lots of good writers. And I wasn't on it. Which stung, but also, my newsletter isn't solely fiction so I can't say I was that surprised. But I did feel pretty cruddy for a bit. Luckily, I did the smart thing and left the computer. Hubby and I went for a walk. We went down to the pet store and checked out the animals. Then we wandered into Goodwill and I ran into a coworker and others I knew. It made me feel better. It also reminded me of a moment when I was in college. I was an art major and the walls were often papered with student projects. Some might have looked and felt motivated, but I had the complete opposite reaction. I felt so demotivated by the displays. I wasn't good enough to be picked. And the thing is, even back then, I knew that was irrational. Art is something you practice and get better at. I also knew I didn't n...

 Have I ever mentioned how much I love this group? It's one of the few places on the internet that hasn't gone down hill. I've been a part of it for years and the support people give never wanes. Especially given last month was quite venty and not very writerly. But you rallied around me, shared your own struggles to let me know hubby and I weren't going it alone, and assured me things will pick up. I completely forgot to reply to comments, so consider this one big reply to everyone who popped in: THANK YOU FOR YOUR WORDS. Before I get in to the writing thing I want to talk about (because I really didn't feel like having a 3rd month in a row where I asked for good vibes for hubby. Especially because it's helping. Recently, hubby got a reply back from a company and he's been interviewing. I'm writing this before his interview so hopefully I won't have to come back after it and update with bad news because as of this week, hubby's unemployment has ...

I really wish I could say things are turning around since my last IWSG post . I WISH. But I can't. In fact, the hits keep coming. On top of hubby still being out of a job and looking, we've had a leak in a front closet and had to have someone come assess it and the ice dams that were above it. Turns out the access points to the attic are just plain pieces of ply wood with no insulation so we've basically been heating the outside a bit all winter. Not quite sure why the inspection guy didn't note that when he did his inspection or why everyone before him just ignored that fact. But given there's still a few feet of snow on the ground (we've gotten over 180 inches of snow this winter) any repairs have to wait until. Our repair guy noted we should just do it by next October, so while it sucks, it's not an OMG we need this fixed now like our furnace last year when we bought the house. We still spent a good chunk of time with an ax hacking at the ice dams to shri...