Some News! Some Flash and Micro Fiction!
Some thoughts on giving yourself grace as a creative person!
Hello again Fellow Adventurer!
Oh my goodness, did this year get off to a sprint. So much for me thinking that I’m starting the year out “slow”. I can practically hear the universe laughing at my naivety. A few days of struggling with some health stuff also didn’t help the pace with which the year started.
But I have started on the edits for Where the Stars Used to Sing and have written some more microfiction during the past week. Although sometimes it’s difficult to share exactly how much has been done since much of it included staring out of the window and thinking.
I do, however, have some fiction for you to read!
Micro Fiction: “Her Hiking Boots Crunched Over Memories”
This little scene popped into my mind the other day. I edited the piece down to 75 words and then sent it off to Paragraph Planet. It was published on the site on 10 January!
Her hiking boots crunched over memories, releasing the smell of dust, decay, and forgotten libraries. Between heaps of ochre sand lay old books; insides gnawed at by time. Ravaged memories fluttered in letter-sized pieces from the open book at her feet. As the last page turned into sand, she remembered the world as it once was – all green and blue – and caught some of the crumbling text on her palm before she, too, forgot.
Flash Fiction: Where the Stars Used to Sing Introduction
Here’s a draft of the introduction of the New and Improved (but still in progress) Where the Stars Used to Sing. The first story of the collection – “The Doorway of the Moon” – is now turning into a short story rather than a flash piece like it was (oops) to show more of the Stars world and mythology (without making it an infodump, of course!).
When I woke, the moon no longer peered in through my bedroom window. Only the five stars of the Mother Constellation still watched over me and sang strange lullabies until the day dawned.
My stomach sank. Today was the day for which I had been born. Today I would perform the Ashjarlaerna. I would be the Star Daughter to open our late king’s tomb to the gateway of eternity. He would step through and I … I would remain behind. A soul trapped in stardust.
It’s so difficult to believe that the stories that were to become Stars were started in 2020. It’s definitely time for me to finish the collection now!
I’m still pondering whether there will be sketches like I initially planned. If there are, I may redraw some of them, but keep them in the same style. Mind you, I would like to do a more detailed and realistic sketch of the moon in that style…
On Giving Yourself Some Grace as a Creative Person
One thing I have definitely been noticing I do is not giving myself much grace when I get busy or ill (or both) and can’t work on my projects as much as I’d like. The reason why it has become so obvious to me is that I realised that I very easily give artists and creators whose work I love a lot of grace when their projects take longer or they need a break.
With this, I mean that I understand where they are coming from and just adjust the time when I can see/read/listen to more of their art in my mind without some people’s ire that the artist dared to “let me down” or something. And yet I don’t allow myself the same. I get angry when my chronic illnesses keep me from working as much as I’d like to because I need extra rest and then beat myself up while I’m resting for good measure.
Obviously, this is not a very healthy headspace, but I am working on it. I’m also working on my focus and getting over this damned Covid-brain already. (I haven’t talked much about this, but I’ve had a battery of brain tests, a lumbar punch – turns out not to be that sore, but the thought of it still grosses me out completely and lying down for hours afterward was the worst part of it for me – and regularly visiting my psychiatrist and psychologist. The good news is that all the tests came back normal*, but, alas, bipolar disorder and Covid don’t mix very well at all. Stupid virus. *My grandmother had brain cancer, so a tumour was a real option.)
Basically, I wish I could just wave a magic wand and have everything turn into some semblance of “normality” instead of having to work so bloody hard on it. Accepting that I am actually working hard at putting routines in place and working hard at, well, work and writing, is starting to help.
While reading Ben Cooper’s (the artist Radical Face) new blog post, I found that the paragraph below really stood out to me. First, because 2022 wasn’t a waste even though it was an excruciatingly difficult year, and, second, because I also need to make a “sanctuary in this age of distraction”:
“So 2022 was not a waste. A lot of my progress was eaten up by messiness and distractions, sure, but not all of it. Now I just need more time to focus, and for longer periods. It’s the only way I’m going to be able to pull this thing off. But I’ve got my new systems in place, and I feel like I’ve built my little sanctuary in this age of distraction. The rest is just the work, which I’m tackling enthusiastically.” – Ben Cooper/Radical Face
Honestly, though, go read the post. And listen to his music. And follow his art on Instagram. The man is an epic artist.
Moving to my own little Bag End has helped immensely, no doubt about that, so step one of creating my own sanctuary is now done. Now to work on the rest…
Here’s one of my favourite of Radical Face’s songs. Listening to it will be a good distraction for the day, I promise. Then we can all get back to work ;)
Until next week!
Love,
Carin