I'm gearing up to buy a new pair of shoes this afternoon.
Necessary! But I do not like to shop. Are we still sure about this whole "needing clothes" thing as a species? 🤔
Have we considered returning to living as hairy beasts who feel the heartbeat of the Earth under the soles of our feet as we run?
@MLClark Let the wild rumpus start!
Hah, I just made a wild things reference with my update. :)
How are you, Jake?
Always lovely to see your name.
How is cat! How is life!
Oof. That reminds me of the world-grief that hit me hard last year.
First I saw no point in fiction, with our industries so insular and so much of great urgency that needed to be reported.
Then I lost hope in news analysis, when I realized that people wanted to be affirmed more than informed.
And that... has finally brought me back to fiction: knowing that stories are the foundation of how we build our world.
Wee suggestion: Try writing for an audience of *one* for a bit. No more. 🤗
@MLClark That audience of one is... my cat, right? 🙃
In all seriousness, solid advice. I just cant seem to get all the noise out of my head. I've had to unplug from online spaces because the conversations around stories have been rather disorienting. I've temporarily replaced my short fiction reads with the anthology The Weird, which I'm loving! Also doing a bit of drawing to activate the creative side of my brain when the words won't come.
Oh, I'm so glad you've found joy in other spaces. Creativity is supposed to be a process of expression, but we've junked it up by tying it to too many concrete outcomes (and with such high expectations attached!).
I think writing a story Ursula might enjoy is a *fantastic* writing prompt 😍 - but do feel free to imagine any one person in your life, even yourself, as your audience, and see if the idea of communicating something to just one person (something we do every day) helps at all.
🤗 And also, no matter what, it's just lovely to see your name pop up. I hope you're taking good care of yourself, and being kind to yourself through slings and arrows as they arise.
@MLClark haha just joking, but there's an idea.
@MLClark I'm doing well, all things considered. Ursula is excited that the birds are back now that it's warming up. I've been waking up to the sound of her chirping and clicking lately.
I think I forgot how to write, though? I keep getting a weird sense of pointlessness when I put pen to paper. So, trying to work through that. 😅