Sharing Space Virtually

This past Friday night I attended a virtual write-in with a couple of my peer critique friends. Two of us wrote while one of us worked on an art project and it wound up being a mostly quiet couple of hours of shared space. It was lovely because we were able to support each other in our endeavors simply by sharing the same space while we worked. This is an incredibly difficult time and finding ways to support one another is critical. We had all talked in our last meeting about how difficult it is to get things done right now and being there with one another while we worked inspired each of us to keep going.

I worked on some revisions for SB and then took the time to think about the new project I wanted to work on. It’s a story I’ve been thinking about for a about a year now, and it’s one that I’ve struggled to structure and frame. While we were online together I mentioned my struggles to the girls. I also mentioned that I wanted to work on a fantasy project but I wasn’t sure what kind of a fantasy story I wanted to write. One of the girls reminded me of these two characters I had come up with at our writing retreat and the story starter I had written and I was so excited! I’d completely forgotten about them, but I rummaged in my journal and found the pages I’d written during the retreat. I was smitten with the characters again and managed to write a complete story structure that night.

I am so excited about the story and equally so to have a project that gives me energy right now. These are difficult times and it’s so important to keep reminding ourselves of it no matter how redundant it feels. The days where I don’t remind myself that these are difficult times are the days the stress rolls me right over. I’m going to continue to remind myself that it’s OK to have hard days, and it’s OK to not get work done if the day doesn’t work that way. I hope to begin writing the story this week and I look forward to sharing virtual space with my group again soon. We’re isolated, but it’s important to remember that we are not alone.

In case you haven’t been told today, you are important, hang in there, and remember we’re all in this together.

Happy Writing!