“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love.”~Sophia Loren, Italian actress
It seems I’ve been stuck in a lot of things lately.
The haiku is just one of them, like having a song stuck in your head. Take a look into my head and learn how I think as I composed this poem.
Haiku Horizons Prompt #186: Land
Land. I tried to focus on something beyond earth and flying. Grass in the backyard is ground, but it’s not land. I couldn’t get inspired by thoughts of landing on your feet or landing a spaceship. I returned to “Land” as expanse of untouched fields far into the horizon, which brought to mind reaching the expanse of an ocean, which brought to mind the song praising all this expanse of us. I couldn’t focus on the grass in my backyard–which I desperately wanted to for some reason–nor could I concentrate on trees, jumping down steps or other minutiae.
.
.
My thoughts were of higher things, and wrote a haiku about my frustration.
It’s easy to be frustrated with writing. Writing is such a personal endeavor, and when things don’t fall into place as planned, it’s easy to take it personally. In fact, I forgot that ROW80 Round 3 ends Thursday. I have my list of goals printed and attached into my planner, but how much have I accomplished?
1–Craft a succinct 30-second book elevator speech. = NO
This could be fun. I haven’t viewed it that way, just another to-do that I to-didn’t-do.
2– Continue my 17 Writing Outlets in 2017 and follow through. = NO
Why am I stuck on this? Fear of failure, or of success? Freedom or commitments?
6–Schedule weekly Myself-Time to review all these goals. = KINDA
I have days and times planned that are “mine,” but I haven’t used those moments as efficiently as I could have. Why am I choosing to be distracted by fun rather than business? Because fun is funner.
3–Fine tune a regular social media schedule. = KINDA MAYBE SORTA
This IS fun. Most of it, anyway. I am posting more on Facebook, but I don’t allow myself time to play with the social media I do enjoy. I think of it every time I don’t do it.
4–Catch up, let go of and/or publish old blog posts. = NO
5–Catch up on email. = WAY NO WAY
Again, I chose play over work. Besides, both overwhelm me.
7–Work on memoir and other stories. = YES (?)
I haven’t worked on my full-length memoir, but I made three rewrite-edits of my short Star Trek MomMemoir. I’m stuck under the weight of the pressure of the last edit. It’s a “final” edit that may be rewritten again based on ideas I learned from Lorraine Ash workshop last week.
See, frustration is easy. That’s when Round 4 kicks in, whatever your “round 4” may be. For me, it’s another opportunity to gather my thoughts from October 2 – December 21, 2017.
Sometimes I get haikus stuck running through my head as well, and none of them are good. (“Haiku in my head. Line after line after line. I can’t make it stop.”) But it is still a way to get those creative juices flowing. Best wishes in the next Round.
I’ve been stuck lately too. It’s really frustrating. I’m starting to come unstuck…just wish it was happening faster. 😀
You know, I have opened this page several times since you posted, trying to gather my head for even the simplest of comments… it didn’t work. So I get you so well on that “gathering time needed” bit. We do what we can and press ourselves just that little bit more… Oddly enough, it works. Just remember that real life likes to jump in and stake its claim to your time too, and you’ll do okay. (oh, and there’s always another day and another round.)