Day: February 1, 2015

When I coach, I spend time talking to the kids about the things they can control in a game. Attitude and Effort are sublimely self-reliant. Unfortunately, that self reliance is based on a curious concept called Headspace. I first found the term through meditation, but have seen it used in all walks of life from sports, to yoga, to pornography. Everyone required to maintain a level of mental control and toughness refers to the ability to get in their ‘proper headspace’ in order to be successful.

Here’s a fact: Though headspace is the embodiment of attitude and effort, finding that elusive space (zone) is extremely difficult and affected by numerous factors including (but not limited to) outside environment, people, time, and the condition of your own body.

I bring this up as I have discovered that it is near impossible to get into the proper headspace inside my own home. That’s the thing with headspace, the number of factors fighting against you make it hard to find what you need. At home I have little working in my favor. The mood here is always extremely high energy (frantic) or straight up negative, which means I am fighting through that to reach the proper headspace. There is also the matter of responsibilities. When in my writing headspace I need to know that the words are all that matters. At home I can sustain that for 10 minutes, but much more requires an escape.

Selma

The ring hanging from her neck spoke of love lost. She was young enough that Jack wondered if she’d seen her 20th birthday. She’d seen tragedy too. The lines on her wrist spoke to that. He wondered how she came to be here in this cafeteria, scarred hands touching at the small gold ring on her neck.

 

Bette

After a moment she came to realize the runs in Bette’s stockings were meant to be there. The stretches and tears formed a lattice that crawled up her legs ending at the hem of her blue skirt. Not high fashion, but something different. Bette was like that. She tried to pull away from the mundane and into that place that Melanie hated–that place where every move she made was scrutinized and immediately judged.

 

Some Thoughts:

1. Starts and fits as usual, but the flow of things is bubbling to the surface in a way that gives me hope. I think I’m on the right track here. Now can I get everything done in the timeframe needed?
2. I wondered if I’d lost the joy of writing. Nope. I’m all in and 100% looking forward to getting to a place where writing is part of the rhythm and not something that requires me to create a rhythm.