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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Life Adjustments: How Writing Helps Me Through Them

I'll admit it. I'm a creature of habit. I envy those people who can go wherever the winds blows without hyperventilating or having a full-blown panic attack. I crave routine, and when that routine is disturbed, it takes me a mighty long time to get back on track.

I'm going through one of those life adjustments right now, and yes, I've had a few panicky moments. Case and point, I just discovered that I completely missed my May 17th posting date on Novel Spaces! Oy! See what happens when your routine gets messed up?

However, I've discovered over the past few days that my one constant is my writing. The stories I worked on back when I lived in Texas just a few months ago are the same stories I pulled up on my computer while living in a hospital room while my mother recovered during her month-long stay. And I get to explore the lives of these same characters now that I'm back home in Louisiana, readjusting to yet another living situation. Once I open my manuscript, all the craziness of the past few months fades away. It's just me and the story. And it is wonderful.

Before I began writing, my favorite books served the same purpose. When I moved away for graduate school, I had a collection of books by my favorite author that I carried with me. I knew that no matter how difficult it was to adjust to my new environment, I could always find comfort and familiarity in those much loved stories.

How many of you have used writing or reading to get you through a rocky time?

5 comments:

  1. I just talked recently about the importance of routine in my writing. I have a hard time keeping going when my world is in upheaval. I've written poetry to deal with personal issues but not fiction in general so much

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  2. Writing and reading has gotten me through everything! When I was younger I would journal incessantly. Reading was, and still is, such a great escape for me. I have gone into new experiences and felt like the books I carried with me were friends. I honestly go through withdrawls when I don't have anything to read.

    Kizzy

    Second Chance- www.kizzypreston.blogspot.com

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  3. Glad to hear your mom is on the mend, Farrah.

    Reading has always been the great escape for me. However, I began writing seriously during one of those life upheavals. My first novel was the product of that and the second was the product of a subsequent upheaval. You're on to something there.

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  4. All the time. My first crappy self pubbed book (that should've been put away into a deep bottomless pit) was the end result of a tumultuous 2006.

    Now I find solice in writing while going through the problems that make up my day-to-day existence.

    Quite often, whatever you're going through helps color and shade your writing in ways you've never thought possible or probable.

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