My Escape Into Fiction

Did you ever have so many daunting things facing you in life, that the desire to run and never look back seemed like a good idea? Somehow, that smacks of a 10-year-old wanting to run away, doesn’t it?

        What if that 10-year-old were 62? So many responsibilities to tend to, so the only feasible action is to escape into my own fictional story. Truly, it is a delight to enter this made-up life, characters who have never spoken the lines I have written, sunrises and sunsets gazed upon that have never occurred.

       No wonder people like to write fiction! It is a new genre for me and as I began, I couldn’t stop. Well, that’s not entirely truthful. Of course I stopped to attend to all that needs attention in order to function as an adult.

      It feels assaulting to close the document and return. The re-entry is shocking and hurts my senses and sensibilities. SPLASHDOWN.

       Don’t get me wrong. There are parts of my life, I absolutely adore. I am allowing myself to wallow today, in the parts that I don’t.

       I find standing in the swill for a time to be very helpful. Denying it is counterintuitive. Sometimes, there is no proverbial silver lining, and that’s okay.

     What is she talking about? What is she alluding to? Hey, you’re allowed to ask those questions but it doesn’t mean I’ll answer. Yes, yes, there are people all over the world who are suffering far, far, far situations, so awful, there is no escape. I do not deny nor compare my experience to theirs. To do so would disrespect their truth.

      Back to my fictional manuscript. I am 1,000 words short of hitting the 65,000 word mark I am working towards. It is sheer delight to build out scenes I had rushed through previously. It is sublime to linger on conversations, deciding where the twists and turns will go and not go. No one suffers because of any of this. Wow, this is powerful stuff.

      I recall daydreaming as a young teenager, and have decided that writing fiction is simply my daydreams put to words, to characters, to scenes, to action, to conversation and ultimately to a manuscript someone else would want to read.

       I don’t write for other people. I write for myself. The writing starts out selfish and then transforms into me considering the reader. I love this. For so many years, I denied my needs for a peaceful existence for those around me. How convoluted is that? That’s not peace. That is madness!!

       Okay, so I’m not running away today. I’m not pulling a My Side of the Mountain (love that book). As I write, I have music in my ears to cheer my soul, to explore the wide range of emotions and to bring me into a state of the here and now.

     Well, not too here and now. Not disassociated from the now, because I don’t want to miss what wonder and awe is right in front of me. Just because I can’t see it right now, doesn’t mean it won’t be around the next corner.

       Where is this going? Daydream, creatively express yourself, add in some wallowing when you need it and continue looking around corners for the wonder and awe and I shall do the same.

       Thank you for reading. What are daydreaming these days? Oh, won’t you please comment below and let me know. Thank you! You know how I love the stories of others.