When I grow up I want to be a writer

A writer's journey is not one with a deadline, yet that's what they are loyal to. The writer's journey is more about themselves than it is to complete the task. If they follow their true writing path, they'll find they're actually only trying to understand themselves, continuously looking for a spark.

For someone that leads a busy life, no reading or research feels enough to achieve the goal. It always seems like everything has already been written, all possibilities explored. We live in a world where people’s attention span is getting shorter, where they are more likely to focus on short, noisy, flashy content, such as the hysterical videos my kids sometimes watch. There is no substance to them. 9 out of 10 posts are not true, are not helpful and can have a negative impact on the viewers’ mental well-being. I don’t know when this new generation started valuing superficiality. It is not even entertaining.

Sometimes I try and share some of my old cinematic experiences with my children… When they were little and untouched by social media and its social relations product, they enjoyed all versions of The Wizard of Oz or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and others alike. Now? I have tried and failed. I can their point to a certain extent. I get that the old sci-fi may not be as good and believable as the one we see on today’s screens, and I too see that the old techniques to bring sci-fi to the cinema now look crafty and archaic. But I’d like them to watch them from a historical perspective, considering the political, social and economics of that time, to gain a good understanding of how we evolved. If I suggest that they go back to reading it's a lost cause from the onset. They used to enjoy it. Now (and probably as a result of the academic imposition) it is seen as a chore, not as a pleasure any longer.

In my case, reading is a luxury that relies on time. My reading at the moment is mostly limited to practical guidance and self-help. I struggle to set it as a high priority because most days life consumes my energy with mundane but still necessary tasks. "Set time aside for yourself", they say, "we all need some ME time". But where do I draw the line between ME time and LIFE time?

And then there's the social media pressure. If you can't win them, join them, right? If we don't engage we're seen as anti-social. There's no social interaction that doesn't include a phone. Even if you meet friends for dinner, if they're not constantly referring to it to post pics or to respond to comments, they'll get it out just to share gossip or a funny post or video. We end up all getting our phones out because everyone seems to it more interesting than the physical act of social interaction. It is truly a sad state of affairs… But I diverge.

I still haven’t given up my quest to read more, to write more. Reading for me is like decoding a secret message, it’s not just reading for reading, it’s reading between the lines, it’s about my interpretation of what I’m reading. Well, it also depends on what I’m reading, of course.

The truth is when you commit to doing it, the spark returns, without you even realising it. All of a sudden there is a little hope that maybe what I'm writing might have some significance, resonate with someone or even entertain. But the most fun part of writing is the game of putting words together with an intention, a meaning. Playing with words can be so interesting, especially if you are working on a topic that you are curious about. I forgot that even researching can be fun.

Last weekend, following submitting a piece of writing to a freelance writing platform, I was invited to complete a trial order. So I set myself the task to spend some time at the local library so that I could focus on research in a more effective way than I would have done, had I stayed home. It would just not be possible (I just cannot wait for that garden room to be built!) My current challenge is to keep the momentum going, between the working hours, the cooking and the washing loads.