Tuesday 11 September 2012

104 words

The world changes every day. Sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. At the moment, I'm lucky. Every day my world seems to be changing for the better.

A guy at work died this weekend. No warning. Just gone.

Okay, that was a brutal change of tone. Sorry. But eleven years after 9/11 I guess most of us are reflecting today about how the world changed on that awful day, on loss.

Such events cause you to appreciate what you have and to consider how you should make the most of every moment. You should do what makes you happy without hurting others in the process. I can honestly say I am the happiest I've been in a very long time. The only thing that could make me happier (well there are a few things but this is something that is within my control)...

Is wrapping my wee brain around my novel/novella and it, in its turn, co-operating. The story (The Bureau of Them) deals with loss, with heartbreak, and strangely, now that I have someone wonderful in my life, I understand those emotions more. Now that I have someone to lose I appreciate how my characters--Katy and Peter--feel and why they are driven to get back those they love. Even if those they love are dead...

...well it is one of my stories after all.

So living and loving life may take me away from writing at times but each new experience offers further depth to future stories. I shall stop stressing about possible future events and start living more in the now. For as someone wise once said, the now is all we have.

And hey, I've written 104 words today.


5 comments:

Deborah Walker said...

Actually, I'm celebrating my partner's birthday.

But with a thought to the terrible loss.

Cate Gardner said...

Happy Birthday to your partner.

Deborah Walker said...

Thanks, Cate. I'll pass it on.

Simon Kewin said...

Carpe Diem and all that. Glad life is going so well. 104 words? By my calculation that's around (takes out calculator) 104 words more than I've written today...

Fiona Pearse said...

Hi Cate,
As a fellow writer (also of a novella) I see writing as an investment in the future, rather than something for now. With writing sometimes an obsession, I have to force myself to remember the now and take a look about :)
Fiona