Well, FirstSon has gone off to start his apprenticeship in a small city on Germany's west coast. He only comes home at the weekends now, not that we see much of him then, either. As soon as he's said hello and raved about his week, he disappears into his bedroom, sets up his computer, and starts to chat to all his international friends. And chat and chat and chat. He basically only comes out for food and church.This week, SecondSon is travelling in Berlin with his homeroom class from school, too, so it's just been me and Husband, home alone. It's very quiet here. I suppose I should get used to it; in a few years, SecondSon will be gone for good, too.
When the boys were younger, and before FirstSon had discovered the chat function, we used to play board games together. I was always very excited about finding a new strategy game at the local library and bringing it home for us to try out. FirstSon almost always won, but it didn't matter, because just playing was fun. We also had a small selection of games here at home for us to play, and Husband even joined in occasionally, though he's not really a gamer. He set up the idea of Sunday Evening gaming for us, so that the boys would grow up with good memories of family activities, and we often played Ticket to Ride Europe, Pompeii, and occasionally New England or other games from the library.
But now everything has changed. FirstSon goes off to his apprenticeship each Sunday afternoon on the train, and when he's home, like I said, he's much too busy for much of anything else now. SecondSon also seems to live only for his iPod, and can only be persuaded with much difficulty to put it down. With a heavy heart, I realise that our game playing days are pretty much over.
I've already sold one game on Ebay, hopefully to a happy gaming family, and this morning, I put two more up for auction. They won't be the last ones to go, either, even though I'll still keep a few of our favourites such as the ones I mentioned above.
*sniff*
Other changes in my life include the fact that I have just been called to be the seminary teacher for the youth in our ward. For those of you who aren't familiar with the LDS church, that's like teaching a Bible class for Sunday School, except that this is going to be early mornings, five days a week for about half an hour each day. I was just getting used to teaching the women of the Relief Society once a month, quoting conference talks and showing them pictures of famous (and not-so-famous) paintings on my laptop to help illustrate my points, and suddenly, it's time for a change! I don't think I'm a good teacher. I often think the only reason the women of the RS looked forward to my lessons was because I could make them laugh at least once. I'm certainly not a natural-born talker! *looks over at FirstSon* Not like some people. Until now, I've been writing down everything I want to say and often reading it off verbatim. I do try to respond to people's contributions in my own words, though. And now I'll have to prepare a little lesson each day, too. I don't know yet how this will impact my writing.
At the moment *cringe* there's nothing to impact because I haven't worked on anything this week. I did have a story of sorts that I was half-heartedly playing with, but although I saw possibilities for it, I suddenly realised that I probably wouldn't be able to keep the ideas within the 5000 word limit that the magazine Mindflights prefers. Suddenly, my enthusiasm for that particular story waned considerably. I know, I know, I should just write the story and then worry about finding the right market for it. But for some reason, I'm not always as flexible as I would like, and it sometimes takes me a bit of time and consideration before I can take the first step onto a different path than the one I had envisioned. I'm also a bit depressed that I can't seem to come up with a really good idea that grabs my enthusiasm and won't put it down. Why is it that other writers are simply bubbling over with original story ideas whereas I have to excavate through sheer granite just to find a bone that sometimes doesn't even fit anywhere? What's blocking me? Fear of failure? Fear of rejection? Lack of Willy Wonka's Bubbly Story Ideas Chocolate Bars? From the first bite, this chocolate will stimulate your brain cells so that story ideas simply bubble out of your mouth and down to your fingertips..
Yeah, that must be it! I'm simply lacking the right chocolate -- I mean, the Write Chocolate!
When the boys were younger, and before FirstSon had discovered the chat function, we used to play board games together. I was always very excited about finding a new strategy game at the local library and bringing it home for us to try out. FirstSon almost always won, but it didn't matter, because just playing was fun. We also had a small selection of games here at home for us to play, and Husband even joined in occasionally, though he's not really a gamer. He set up the idea of Sunday Evening gaming for us, so that the boys would grow up with good memories of family activities, and we often played Ticket to Ride Europe, Pompeii, and occasionally New England or other games from the library.
But now everything has changed. FirstSon goes off to his apprenticeship each Sunday afternoon on the train, and when he's home, like I said, he's much too busy for much of anything else now. SecondSon also seems to live only for his iPod, and can only be persuaded with much difficulty to put it down. With a heavy heart, I realise that our game playing days are pretty much over.
I've already sold one game on Ebay, hopefully to a happy gaming family, and this morning, I put two more up for auction. They won't be the last ones to go, either, even though I'll still keep a few of our favourites such as the ones I mentioned above.
*sniff*
Other changes in my life include the fact that I have just been called to be the seminary teacher for the youth in our ward. For those of you who aren't familiar with the LDS church, that's like teaching a Bible class for Sunday School, except that this is going to be early mornings, five days a week for about half an hour each day. I was just getting used to teaching the women of the Relief Society once a month, quoting conference talks and showing them pictures of famous (and not-so-famous) paintings on my laptop to help illustrate my points, and suddenly, it's time for a change! I don't think I'm a good teacher. I often think the only reason the women of the RS looked forward to my lessons was because I could make them laugh at least once. I'm certainly not a natural-born talker! *looks over at FirstSon* Not like some people. Until now, I've been writing down everything I want to say and often reading it off verbatim. I do try to respond to people's contributions in my own words, though. And now I'll have to prepare a little lesson each day, too. I don't know yet how this will impact my writing.
At the moment *cringe* there's nothing to impact because I haven't worked on anything this week. I did have a story of sorts that I was half-heartedly playing with, but although I saw possibilities for it, I suddenly realised that I probably wouldn't be able to keep the ideas within the 5000 word limit that the magazine Mindflights prefers. Suddenly, my enthusiasm for that particular story waned considerably. I know, I know, I should just write the story and then worry about finding the right market for it. But for some reason, I'm not always as flexible as I would like, and it sometimes takes me a bit of time and consideration before I can take the first step onto a different path than the one I had envisioned. I'm also a bit depressed that I can't seem to come up with a really good idea that grabs my enthusiasm and won't put it down. Why is it that other writers are simply bubbling over with original story ideas whereas I have to excavate through sheer granite just to find a bone that sometimes doesn't even fit anywhere? What's blocking me? Fear of failure? Fear of rejection? Lack of Willy Wonka's Bubbly Story Ideas Chocolate Bars? From the first bite, this chocolate will stimulate your brain cells so that story ideas simply bubble out of your mouth and down to your fingertips..
Yeah, that must be it! I'm simply lacking the right chocolate -- I mean, the Write Chocolate!
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