Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You

I have been working furiously on a new novel, The Breaker, which I hope to publish later this year.  Writing is an interesting, solitary career choice.  You can bounce story ideas off of others, but most of the work is done inside your own head, in which you question your character actions and the way the tale will progress.  Since the book is located in a place I have vacationed twice, I am paying attention to the geography of the area even though I already changed the location of one location, in a move to add more detail to the chapter in which the event occurs.  It is interesting to write about things empathetically when you have never experienced them in your own life.

Me

I guess it's okay to talk about this here.  This blog, after all, isn't just about my writing--it's about my life.  And my life is definitely a downer these days.  I am hopelessly depressed.  Unfortunately my mood swings make me unpleasant to be around.  Not that I'm the sociable type.  Sadly I never learned how to be a social butterfly; I've spent much of my life in a proverbial cocoon.  Even when someone says something nice or complimentary, I am simply struck dumb and unable to reply.  My shyness and awkwardness should never be mistaken for anything else.  I am simply too introverted to come across as friendly or grateful.  If you are born inside your shell, can you ever escape it?  Are you simply destined to always be a shy, depressed, sad person without a wealth of friends?

Pin Your Name to My Heart

Thanks to my wonderful friend Josie, I decided to become a member of the Pinterest community.  I border on being a Luddite sometimes, for a variety of personal and logistical reasons, so me branching out into so much technology this year is a big step.  In graduate school we discussed a wide variety of emerging technologies that would shape the future of librarianship—and the world at large.  Perhaps Pinterest is the newest social tool for authors to share their works?

I will say that Pinterest Day One has not been the easiest.  Learning how to pin images to my boards and how to search and find other users and their boards involved a steep learning curve.  Then there was the business of internet connectivity and the whole mess of logging in and verifying my email…I was ready to give up in a hurry after all of that.  Once I finally figured out how to pin images, it became a lot easier.  There’s no way to know how far I will actually take the Pinterest thing.  So far it seems a nice way to look at photos.

One nice feature of Pinterest thus far is that it is linked to Facebook.  When my last computer died, I lost my favorites, including a webpage and wiki I had made while in graduate school.  I tried but was never able to find them again, so I have no way of knowing if they are even still floating around in cyberspace (the wiki should be anyway) so I find myself hoping, at last, that some of my web creations are…lasting.

Currently listening to:  The Sweetest Days by Vanessa Williams

http://m.pinterest.com/conradcorner/

Rejuvenation

I don't often think of myself as a problem solver, but perhaps that's exactly what I am.  I look at things; focus on them, study them until I come up with a solution, a way to make them better.  Usually these things are mundane and involve storage and household tasks; however, they leave me feeling rejuvenated once they are complete.  In some ways it's about appreciating the minutiae of life, the small moments that add up to create one day.   When I narrow down the items on my to-do list, I start to feel as though I have been freed or something.   When there is less on my plate, I feel infinitely more creative.  When I see products that are loaded down with caffeine (I love soda as much as the next person, but I digress), I start to realize that, as a society, we don’t need more energy—rather, we need less stress.  I need to prioritize and decide what is important to me, what is necessary to make me the best person I can possibly be. 

There is definitely a reason behind the phrase, “take time to stop and smell the roses.”  Flowers are a fleeting thing, like so much of life—they come into our lives, then leave, and we are left to hope they will return again someday.  Flowers, if tended, usually come back year after year.  Friendships and relationships must also be tended if they are to grow and thrive.  I have never been great at maintaining friendships—I am an introvert and life and its circumstances always seem to get in the way.  But I’m trying. 

Currently listening to:  Rumour Has It by Adele