Day Fifteen: 23,214 of 50,000 words
I hope to catch up soon.
Er,
I will catch up soon: replying to comments, word count, social activities, sleep. All of it.
But right now it’s hard to keep up with what I’m doing when I’m having a hard time even keeping up with myself.
I’m experiencing something I suspected might happen when I started this project. I’m different. I’m not entirely changed – no one in my life is saying that I’m not the same as I was, for instance.
Of course, not very many people have seen me recently… because I’m, you know, writing all the time.
Ahem.
But there are subtle things. It’s like I’m so busy actively writing that I’m forgetting to be the person I think I am. So I’m slipping into the person I am.
More like catapulting than slipping.
It’s as though there are two of me, and while one is busy trying to figure out the next plot twist or what might drive a person to become a murderer (remember, I’m doing dark things this month), the other me is busy repainting the walls and taking over my wardrobe while the rest isn’t looking.
Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird
It’s fascinating to be someone else, but someone also so familiar. Uncomfortable, yet like coming home.
If I wasn’t so intent on writing, I’d stop what I’m doing and go make myself look like Who I Think I Am again, make it all tidy and safe and acceptable. But I don’t have the time, so I’m letting myself blossom into something and someone else. It’s beautiful and frightening and confusing.
What I’m really doing is writing myself real.
And it makes me wonder if maybe when we stop writing in the middle of something, is it because we touch something in ourselves that is true and naked and really not who we think we are at all – so we run away?
The official blog of Michelle Tuckett, word ninja. 
“What I’m really doing is writing myself real” – I love that expression.
I was actually thinking of you when I wrote it. It’s yours if you want to take it. 🙂
I kind of borrowed (less charitably stole, more accurately responded to) it.
And, of course, you did so perfectly.
Beautifully said. I am inspired by your (crazy) goal but also terribly jealous. I think it takes not only stamina from a writing perspective but some very serious personal exploration to write as you are writing. You are being absorbed into the very thing you love. Every word is a wisp of your soul when you write, and you’re putting out a lot of words this year. Best wishes to you, and your becoming real =)
I love that feeling of being so completely caught up in a story. Usually it is other duties, family stuff, as I am a mom, or visiting family, that pulls me out of my writing. When that happens it’s almost like waking up from a dream before you’re ready. Getting back to that dreamlike state of consciousness is hard, like trying to recapture a dream when you can’t quite remember it. But I have never thought of it as being a different person–more like being in a different state of consciousness. Best of luck to you. This was a really thought provoking.
If everything were energy, could there be “real energy” as well as “unreal energy”, or would that question be appropriate in an “energy world”?
Thanks for a marvelous posting! I truly enjoyed reading it, you happen to be a great author.I will be sure to bookmark your blog and may
come back in the foreseeable future. I want to encourage you to continue your great posts,
have a nice holiday weekend!