Friday, November 01, 2013

Let's Do This Thing!

Last night per tradition, Sweet Dub and I took the girls over to the West Adams neighborhood where many of his friends grew up. We use the house of the mom of one of his oldest friends as our home base to meet up and trick or treat from, so other friends can join in as the evening goes on. I look forward to it because it is one of the few times a year we all get together, and in past years we have had as many as 13 kids in our group, shuffling along in their assorted costumes and shining flashlights hither and yon.

One of our friends is the mother of four girls, currently ranging in age from 12 to 16 (there's one set of twins in there). She works full-time at a demanding job as an educator, runs marathons, and is constantly driving her kids to swim meets and volleyball tournaments all over Los Angeles in her spare time. She is warm and funny and I have missed her. When I ran into her on the sidewalk, she hugged me tightly and told me I was gorgeous. Who doesn't need a friend like that?!

Later, we were sitting on her mother-in-law's porch as our kids were trading candy and still giving candy out to straggling trick-or-treaters, and she said to me: "I just have to tell you that you have inspired me!"

“What?” I exclaimed. “How so?!”

“I am writing!” she said, her face all aglow. It turns out she is working on not one but two writing projects as part of her work, and she will be publishing an academic e-book as well as contributing a chapter to a book that is being edited by a colleague in Australia. She said that I inspired her because I am a writer and she knows I have been working on a book myself.

Er…okay, let’s be honest here. I haven’t even written on this blog consistently, never mind working on the actual book I want to write (which is in pieces, each of which is less fleshed out than the last). My job is stressful and exhausting and once I have got home and dealt with dinner, baths, the kids’ homework and everything else, I have nothing left.

I confessed all this to her, and she was sympathetic and supportive. “You just have to do it,” she said. And by God, this is true. My spirit is withering away without having a shred of a creative outlet except the fun projects I do with my kids. I need to get this shit together.

I am writing again. And I am starting here. NaBloPoMo is upon us! Wish me luck, and some quiet time to think.

2 comments:

Nerd Girl said...

Yay! Thank you for the words of encouragement - I am now here to offer you the same. We can do this! We will do this! Look forward to seeing what you come up with for the next month! :)

Lisa Blah Blah said...

Yeah! Weekends are usually my toughest time to post because I am running in a million different directions. I am charged up because I actually managed to post both days this weekend! We can and will do this!