Everyday Canvas

Detaching and Birthday

For "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" 

Prompt: In an interview, Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard, who wrote the six-volume autobiographical novel My Struggle and many others, said, “I don’t really pay much attention to the world. I’m not very present. I’m detached from almost everything. I’m very occupied with myself and my own mind. I’m not in connection with the world—but in writing, I can be.”
What do you think? If writers are attached to writing, how can they write if they are detached from the world?

====

I believe this is called in psychiatry depersonalization disorder. People with this disorder describe a sense of complete detachment, a life lived as if on autopilot, characterized by an absence of emotions, good or bad. Such people observe life through a fog as if they don’t own their bodies. They may also have OCD and other mental disorders. I guess such people write about stuff as they observe the world behind their fog, but I don’t think, they’re able to feel with their characters or even their own emotions. Depending on their skill, some writers can get away with this.

Then, sometimes, due to our digital connections, we may feel disconnected and depressed even though we are connected to the entire world through the internet. It is a catch 22 situation.

I think it is okay to feel sad, detached, or depressed from time to time, but if it happens often or unrelentingly, the person feeling that way should better seek professional help.

Although Knausgaard, here, claims some kind of a detachment, I doubt that he is seeing himself clearly. If he were, his writing wouldn’t be so successful.

For: "Space Blog" 

Prompt: From Lisa Noe ’s "Invalid Item" .
"I can't believe this is happening on my birthday."
Odd things happen on birthdays.
What birthday do you remember best?

---

It was my older son’s first birthday. He didn’t understand what the cake was for. When it came to blow the candle, he stuck his entire head into it. Luckily, a neighbor pulled the candle out of the cake at the last minute.

As the result, I had to wash the baby while my husband had to go get another cake, but the bakery was out of cakes, and he came back with a full load of eclairs. I think eclairs taste better than any cake, so we were all happy about what our son did, our son with icing all over his face and body.

I don’t think any of my own birthdays can top this one.