Easily Distracted

Hello, my lovely reader………

Well, I must say it has been a very long time since I last wrote. 

Hmmm let me think………

It must be well over 12 months since my last blog and as mentioned way back at the end of 2024; I was taking a break from writing here because I wanted to concentrate on writing a novel. Which, I have been doing. But I must tell you this exercise has been a lot harder than I first thought. 

This task is not for the easily distracted, I can tell you that. It’s so funny when I started out, I thought yeah, I will knock this out in 12 months not a problem, I’ll find a literary agent and then be published by the end of 2025 no worries. 

Boy was I ever wrong.

It’s crazy how hard it is to move from a small comment about life of about 2 pages, then jump onto the mammoth journey of thousands and thousands of words, at the same time sustaining this as one story, linking a long chain of thoughts and events together, making it cohesive but also interesting at the same time. 

No pressure at all. 

Writing a novel is such a balancing act of combining the concepts of symbolism, and personal truth all folded together with a healthy dollop of action, and finally adding a dash of fiction (to help with the drama). Mix this all together with the added technical complexities of spelling, grammar, dialogue and paragraph/ chapter formatting. I’d have to say this is one massive cake I am baking.

Along with this I have had the interesting surprise of how much of an emotional roller coaster this activity has been. Which again has delayed my progress (let’s not forget me breaking both my legs last year that didn’t help at all). 

You see, I am finding parts to this exercise hard mainly because it is semi-autobiographical and I have come up against some moments where I have had to take a break from my words and before I can continue, I needed to figure out what happened. Asking myself was it reality, poor memory skills or just simply imagined. Then after this is established, I must find out what it all means then process the event all over again from a creative perspective, editing accordingly with the rules of rhythm and flow. 

Basically, looking at the event and calculating if it adds to the novel’s story flow or bogs it down. I mean let’s face it there are some parts to my life that are fairly mundane and repetitive. And while I am being honest, I haven’t been very bright at times (or too forgiving whatever your perspective) and I have repeated a few behavior’s\mistakes a couple of times before I finally got clued in. 

It is strange editing your life and making it a cohesive summary of activities, events and emotions that are not only true to my life but also help the reader progress through the story without wanting to fall asleep. 

Now, putting this over thinking to one side. I am secretly enjoying this process, especially combining several personalities whom I have interacted with over the years into one person which makes for the creation of some wonderful characters that are super awful but at the same time absolutely delicious to write. 

It’s kind of like going to a circus freak show; “Come one come all! And see the horrible admin lady. But don’t stand too close folks she can suck the life right out of a happy young soul like yours.” (When you finally read my book, you will know who that is).

I believe I have quite a dark side to my personality, the more horrible these characters are the more excited I get when I write them. And I must admit sometimes I have gotten swept up in the fun of it all and I have (sort of) embellished a few points. It’s not completely lying, it is just summarizing and condensing which makes the colours of the story less washed out or diluted with the reality of time. 

With this in mind, I am finding this creative process similar to painting. Like all art forms, the physical representation of what is created is just an individual’s interpretation of a single life and experiences, no one else’s and nothing more. 

With writing as opposed to painting. I place each word down to form a personality or tell an event. Like a single brush stroke on a canvas, the more I keep writing the more my vision appears. Just like layers to a landscape, still life, or portrait, after one element is put down you move to the next until the chapter is done. Every word, sentence, and paragraph are my brush strokes, and each chapter helps me form the image. In a sense I am painting with words. 

It’s not all analogies, fun and smooth riding, sometimes I feel embarrassed that I haven’t finished but at the same time I feel proud to say that I am halfway done because this is a big job. 

Who knows when it will be finished maybe this year or the next, I have no idea. But it will be done eventually, I trust in that for sure. I am not rushing this piece I am making sure each layer is set before I move ahead. I am allowing my words to percolate and mature; I am slow creating and thoroughly enjoying it. 

These thoughts have inspired my latest painting “Easily Distracted” Acrylic on paper.

So now that I have started this blog again, I think from time to time I will write a few thoughts here and there just not every week. I have a few paintings that I want to share with you. Particularly the next one I am so close to completing it is crazy. So until I put the last brush stroke down on that one I will leave you all in peace. Hope everyone is keeping well and safe until next time my friends, stay safe in this crazy world.