Writing again

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I felt it welling up this morning, although the dire coffee shortage seemed as though it might hamper things. I got dressed - already an accomplishment, already making this day different from the days of the previous month - and went out and bought some. It's sunny outside, it's hot. It's February, no wonder the plants are completely confused. Photos of snow in the UK, and here I was boiling in my cardigan.

I made the coffee, sat outside to drink it, and the welling up became stronger and stronger. With the half-drunk cup, I went back inside and fired up the laptop. The desktop is already on but its purpose is different. The laptop is for fiction. I started something, a new version of a very very old story I haven't found a way to tell yet. I wrote a little, and then stopped. Then went to something new, something I decided to write for a themed call for submissions, because this often helps me (sorry, Elizabeth!). Liars' League is calling for submissions on "Art and Science". The deadline is this Friday, in two days. Art and science. That's me. That's what I am all about. If there is anything I have to write, it's this. I started thinking about this over a month ago, before I started feeling unwell. I began something. But for the last four weeks I haven't even been able to approach the idea of getting back into the fictional world. I thought I would just have to scratch this off my Submissions spreadsheet.

But today, I did. I'm back. I climbed back in and it felt good, it felt great! I started writing where I had left off, and then, in line with my theory about distractions, (which got a mention in the New Yorker blog!) started up two online scrabble-like games in order to be able to send my rational mind off to think about word scores while I finished the story. The minimum for the submission was 800 words. At 802 I wrapped it up. Then, since Liars League is where writers write and actors read out the stories, I read it to myself. And then i grinned. I like it. I really like it.

Now I will let it lie. I have two more days. Of course I like it, it's just come out. Tomorrow, I will be able to see it with a bit more distance. More time would help, but that's just the way it is. And it doesn't matter one bit if it's not accepted. It doesn't matter because I wrote it. Now it exists. I got out something that was inside and I expressed something about Art and Science, it took me in a direction that was magical and weird and wonderful, for me. I'm back. I feel better. So much better. Physically, emotionally, mentally. Thank the powers above, or below, or within, or all of them. A good day.