Write On Wednesdays Exercise 17: This week, we are going with Karen's idea for an open choice week. So take a look at the old writing exercises (you can find them listed in my sidebar: WoW Writing Exercises), find one you'd like to try (or retry!) and link it up to the linky below. Short and simple instructions this week. If time is an issue perhaps you would like to try one of the 5 minute stream of consciousness exercises.
I chose Week 1, because we all know the beginning is a very good place to start....
Write On Wednesdays Exercise 1 - Very Pleased to Meet You!: Write about yourself as you are in this moment. Use the five senses to do so. The main idea is that we should get a little more insight into YOU after we read your piece. Here are some (optional) questions to get you started: How do YOU look right now? What colours/fabrics/accessories are you wearing? What can you see? Consider lighting, shapes, objects. How do YOU sound right now? What can you hear? What can you smell? Does the smell remind you of anything? Can you taste anything? How do YOU feel? Comfortable? Tired? What are you touching? Is it cold, hot, smooth? What is your posture like? Slumped? Sitting? Standing? What does your posture say about your mood?
Who am I? I am limbo. I am the hangman from the tarot deck, in a state of suspension. Unable to go forward, unwilling to go back. I am on the precipice of turning 40 with as little insight to my future as when I turned 20. I am the eternal fool. I sit in my study with the spring sun shining through my window and procrastinate about work. It is school holidays and my children are home. They want me to make pirate hats and peel mandarines. I do both with little thought and even less inclination. It is 11am and I still wear the t-shirt I wore to bed. These days I sleep on the couch. My bed feels off limits to me. Despite my unwashed self I wear liquid eyeliner like an Egyptian cat. It makes me feel better. An empty cup of tea sits beside me. Why did I choose this time to give up coffee? I miss the caffeine high. Scrawled pages from a notebook sit before me, waiting to be transcribed. The writing is messy and in parts unreadable, even to me. I re-read the pages and doubt my ability to make it happen. I am glad the sun is shining though. When the sun shines there is life and hope and vigor. While gathering my thoughts I make origami pinwheels from thin card. The crisp folds are pleasing to me. Nothing else in my life seems exact and precise and neat. The little one is crying. He comes to me for comfort. I hold him to my side and smooth his hair with my hand, breathing in the warm smell of him. He wriggles to free himself and leaves happy. I serve some purpose after all. This is what I am supposed to do. This is what it means to be a mother. But what does it mean to be a daughter when you are no longer a child and what does it mean to be a wife when you no longer have a husband. I do not know the answers so I sit in limbo and hang suspended like the hangman, waiting for the universe to tell me.
I have been wondering where you have been - and assumed this kind of thing.
ReplyDeleteWell written piece, as always.
Gosh, what a tough deal you have at the moment. Thinking of you. Limbo sucks. Nice to have you back in blog land though.
lol, thanks B xxx. Haven't had the energy to blog last couple of weeks. Will slap myself around in a bit to get myself out of this funk and get back to blogging. Appreciate you dropping by, it means a lot x
ReplyDeleteYou sound very interesting, if a little stretched at the moment! I like your short sentence style in this piece, conveys the sense of dealing with one little thing at a time.
ReplyDeleteKate
I was going to comment as Kate did above, you sound interesting to me too! The way you write really appeals to me and I liked this piece. The small sentences work well for all that is going on as I think it helped convey the mood of limbo - things happening but you are not absorbing them, just floating through the motions? Sleeping on the couch told us a lot, I think and the pinwheels painted a good image too.
ReplyDeleteIt's always a good idea to start at the beginning.
Gill x
Amazing.
ReplyDeleteI really loved the part about pirates and peeling mandarins... and the eyeliner too. Great details that really make for interesting writing. :D
You captured that state of limbo so well. Going through the motions, seeing and doing with very little emotion. The anaology of the tarrot card is perfect and I love the way you started and ended with it.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the short sentences work really well with this too. Little snapshots. I get the impression of someone sitting moitionleslly while the world carries on around them just being roused every now and then almost on auto pilot to do the things that need to be done.
Like Sarah I loved the beginning and ending with the tarot card. I love the way you've written this; capturing your mood and a sense of lethargy. Well done!
ReplyDeleteExcept for 16 words - probably the most profound words of this piece, I'm imagining the crux of your limbo - it is as if you climbed inside my head and gazed at the world through my eyes. Limbo sucks great hair dogs balls, I hope it's a transition place for you. This was beautifully written, it flowed like satin. I enjoyed the words even if the topic was uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteBuy do I understand that lost and overwhelmed, can't sit still but no motivation to move, type of feeling. It's stifling and nearly unbearable, but something that just has to be endured, cause running screaming into the night just isn't an option, too many people depending on you being there.
ReplyDelete