Revisiting Flow

Daily writing prompt

What activities do you lose yourself in?

This question is about flow. Flow is the state during an activity where we lose all track of time while doing it. The activity engages us completely, and it challenges us at an optimal level. Flow provides us with feelings of mastery and an active state much like meditation, and increases our well-being. It’s a psychology term first proposed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Writing is my flow activity. This is why I have been alarmed these past few weeks with my writing slump. Flow is necessary for my well-being, and I don’t have another flow activity as a backup. I felt a bit lost these past few weeks.

For the last week or two, however, I have been editing previously written works as a way to get through the slump. This has been a flow activity to me, and I am back to beating the tyranny of feeling the passage of time. It is also giving me ideas for a new novel. Back to flow!

In Praise of Gandalf

Daily writing prompt

What movies or TV series have you watched more than 5 times?

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Every year at New Year’s, my husband and I have a Lord of the Rings movie marathon. Over two days, we watch the immensely long trilogy ensconced on our couch. It has happened at least three times, which, in my reckoning, makes it a ritual.

The movies have aged well. Gandalf is as droll as ever, the Ringwraiths just as menacing, and Aragorn is just as hot. The one obnoxious line in the movie — “Legolas, what do your elf-eyes see?” — is just as annoying. We look forward to seeing it every year.

There are other movies we watch yearly, such as the Patrick Stewart version of Christmas Carol and How the Grinch Stole Christmas in the holiday season. But the marathon of Lord of the Rings is the one I most enjoy.

Superstitious

Daily writing prompt

Are you superstitious?

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Am I superstitious? It depends on what you mean. I don’t believe in any years of bad luck if I break a mirror, nor do I panic with a hat on my bed. Umbrellas in the house? Awkward, but not bad luck. Meeting up with a black cat? No, I bend down and pet them.

I used to believe in curses. Not so much anymore, but once upon a time I believed that my neighbor Aunt Nonie (age 92) cursed me for hanging out with her how many times great nephew when I was 13 and he was 11. If I understood Italian, I’d be able to tell what she cursed me with. Probably never having a boyfriend, and for a while it looked like the curse was working.

I do, however, believe that omens are, well, ominous. A bad event first thing in the morning means an entire bad day. If I see a dead bird, I wonder what the day has in store for me. I once became convinced I got my first professor job in Oneonta NY because there was a nearby town named Laurens (my name is Lauren).

So for the most part, I’m not superstitious. Except for that pesky omen thing. It’s a little embarassing being a grown professor and believing in omens. But there it is.

Writing a Prequel

I think I have a new idea for a book.

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It’s in the Hidden in Plain Sight universe, and it takes place before any of the other books. It concerns some characters of Whose Hearts are Mountains, the last book in the series. I don’t really have the plot, but here goes: MariJo Ettner is the main character, and she is an eminent anthropologist. She is also an Archetype, an immortal being who has lived for millennia. By the end of the book, she will help to start the collective Hearts are Mountains. She will play matchmaker with Alice Johnson and William Morris, another Archetype, who will have a Nephilim child. That Nephilim child will become the protagonist of Whose Hearts are Mountains.

It’s still in its fledgling stages. One thing the book needs is a plot; another is a theme. I am experimenting with this group of Archetypes and their isolation, fear of being discovered, and status as Archetypes not born in InterSpace. It’s going to take a bit of work.

To prepare, I am rereading/editing Whose Hearts are Mountains. It’s been a while since I’ve looked at it, and as I now have ProWritingAid, I am finding a plethora of grammar quirks. (It’s already been edited for awkward sentences and plot holes).

It’s nice to be writing again, although I’m not really writing yet.

Shopping Spree

Daily writing prompt

Where would you go on a shopping spree?

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Where would I go on a shopping spree? I assume someone else is footing the bill, right? Otherwise, I would not go on the shopping spree, because if I had the money I would already have gone.

I would like to get the most out of someone else’s money. And if this is a timed shopping spree, I want to get the most out of the time I have. I’m going to go to an Apple Store.

I would like a top-of-the-line MacBook Air, for example. I don’t think it’s too much to ask for. It would be a delightful addition to my iPad. I’d grab a new case for my iPad, and one of those fancy keyboard/stand things that Apple makes for iPads. A new iPhone? Yes, please! We need a new Apple TV, so that would be a wise choice. And accessories! I need accessories!

It’s fun to spend someone else’s money. In reality, though, I will do fine with the computer I have, and with my current electronics. But we do need a new Apple TV.

What’s in a Name

Daily writing prompt

What is your middle name? Does it carry any special meaning/significance?

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I’m going to depart from this prompt and cover both my first and middle names, because the origin of my first name is hilarious.

I was named Lauren after my Uncle Larry. My reprobrate Uncle Larry. My Uncle Larry who would start drinking at 8 AM. The one who collected rents with a gun strapped to his thigh. THAT Uncle Larry. I’m not sure what kind of message this sent to me; I turned out to be a good girl despite that unusual namesake.

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My middle name is Jean, named after my father John. That probably was a bit better of a namesake; my dad was everything Uncle Larry was not. Hard-working, responsible, for the most part calm.

Not a very exciting story, I know. But that’s the story.

The Last Thing I Learned

Daily writing prompt

What is the last thing you learned?

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I learn so much in a day. I read the news, informational websites, and cereal boxes. I almost compulsively seek out information. So much of what I learn, though, isn’t of great import.

How, what, where? – gears concept – 3D illustration

For example, this morning I found out that Gene Hackman, movie star, died with his wife and dog. I didn’t know Gene Hackman and I don’t watch many movies. The event was of great import to him and his family, but not to me.

Last night I learned someone had put a hand-held electric espresso machine on the market. For 150 dollars, I could own my very own gadget. Again, not of great import because although I love coffee, I drink little espresso.

Sometimes what I learn has a more immediately pressing character. Tuesday, I learned that the remote for the DVD player in my classroom was not working. This caused me to revise my lesson on the fly, and I gave a presentation on Flow that I had not prepared for. It didn’t go to the end of the class, but at least I presented something.

As humans, we are always learning. Without learning, we will die, because learning helps us make sense of the world surrounding us. But most of the time we learn, it’s something we hardly notice, because we do it so much.

Shock and Awful

My readers may wonder why I write little about the political situation in the US. I admit I feel overwhelmed by the current political situation. New abuses of power occur daily, and I don’t recognize this as my country. There is little I can do, and I hate that.

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The leaders of my state, all Republican, think the coup is a good thing, even as the government cuts off funding for vulnerable citizens and people’s rights are being trampled. Even as our country alienates our former allies. Even as people are attacked for being different.

The coup has a way of making me uneasy about espousing the things I believe in. When I was teaching a class on cultural competency the other day, I wondered if it was a wise thing to do. I taught the lesson, hoping that the powers that eliminated the DEI program at our university wouldn’t come down on me. That’s what the fomenters of an oppressive regime want, the fear.

I will fight the fear as I stand up for what I believe in. I need to find a niche to fight in and fight there. I see so many injustices.

Destiny is Tricky

Daily writing prompt

Do you believe in fate/destiny?

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I don’t believe in destiny. Or, rather, I believe in something destiny-adjacent. Not the deterministic concept of fate delivering us to our inevitable outcome, but a leading we could be taking.

Leading is a Quaker concept, the belief that God (or whatever divine presence you believe in) is leading us toward an action we need to make. These often point toward right action, or ways in which we can do God’s will. (Keep in mind that God’s will in this case is not the evangelical/supremacist vision, but defending people’s rights, feeding and clothing them, bringing the peaceable kingdom to earth. Pacifist and progressive.)

Leadings can be life disrupting, although I have never had one that defines as that. Quakers have clearness committees so that they can tell whether a leading is divine or just a whim or mistaken desire. Clearness committees are not perfect — I had a clearness committee for my first marriage and it blew up in three years.

I sometimes think writing is a leading. Why else would I write for no monetary recompense and very few readers? I may be called to put on paper the adventures of an agricultural collective and its preternatural visitors, dealing with topics like pacifism and discrimination. I don’t know — it’s been years since I’ve been to meeting and I don’t have a meeting to seek clearness with it. It’s also not disruptive enough to my life — if I wanted to quit work for writing full-time, I would certainly ask for a clearness committee.

I don’t believe in destiny, the belief that we have no control over what happens to us and we’re dragged kicking and screaming into our future. But I believe in leadings.

200 Days in a Row

I have posted in my blog for 200 consecutive days. I have learned something from the process, mostly that if it weren’t for the post topic prompts in WordPress, I would never have written in my blog for 200 consecutive days. My mind doesn’t have that many topics to write about, especially in a busy semester.

I have also learned that the badge that I get daily: “You’re on a 200 day streak on Words Like Me!” is a far better motivator than I had guessed. Gamification is real. The tyranny of this little message drives me to post another day.

I don’t know how much longer I am going to write daily. I feel sometimes like I have nothing to say, or that people don’t care what I’m saying. Writing is a lot like that, though, sending words out into the world not knowing what impact, if any, they will have. On the other hand, 200 days is an awesome streak, and who wants to ruin that?