Space

It was a very quiet weekend. Despite a to do list as long as my arm, this weekend I have mostly been sleeping and I am still extremely tired.  After the outing with Gail on Tuesday that I wrote about, we had our regular fortnightly pub meeting with friends in the evening,  my parents came over for a couple of hours Wednesday afternoon and in the evening I had my T’ai Chi class. I visited  Gail with my other friend Lisa for couple of hours on Thursday night. Those things together were enough to wipe me out for the whole weekend. I spent most of it asleep. Recently I had been feeling better than I have for two months and I really don't want this recent exhaustion to be the start of a major setback, so I am just listening to my body and if it wants me to rest and sleep that's what I am doing. 

I know what you mean about literary criticism. I finished my rereading of the Time Traveller’s Wife a couple of weeks ago  and have been reading all the posts on the Summer Readalong with interest, but haven’t posted any thoughts on the book myself. I enjoy reading along with everyone’s reflections, but then feel I don’t have anything else to add. Sometimes it is hard to get my thoughts and feelings about a story to coalesce.  It’s easy to read someone else’s writing and think Yes! That! but less easy to formulate my own response. I do feel though, that it helps to work out what I like or don’t like about a book, so I try at least to reflect on other people's responses, even if I haven't got much to add.

I love the piece you wrote on your blog, you have a real gift for writing straight from your heart. That's not something I always find very easy. Until the last few months I hadn't written for years, so I am still finding out what I like to write, enjoying the process and seeing where it takes me. I agree that other peoples' writing, both in books and online, whilst being very inspirational to read, can just serve to make me feel worse about my own by comparison! You're right, we all need to write with our own voices and from our own experience.  I think it is often that voice of authenticity that comes across and makes a piece of writing resonate with me. 

As for the internet....yes, I have been avoiding it. I love the internet, the people I have met there, the ideas and inspiration...but sometimes it feels, as someone else said to me once, like everyone is shouting for my attention at once. Steering clear of the internet helps quieten my mind. Sometimes I get very tempted to unplug for a week or more, don't you? We had no internet on honeymoon and I really enjoyed the peace.  I hope to do more reading, more writing and to have some quieter head-space this week.