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This week: Getting Older and More Crotchety Edited by: Sara♥Jean  
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Getting Older and More Crotchety
Or, to be more precise, learning to adjust with my own changing needs, even if I hate them.
I remember a time in my life when I could stay up until 3 or 4 in the morning, and leap out of bed without a problem at about 7:00 to get ready for my college classes. My homework would be done, I'd have plenty of time for video games, plenty of time for work, plenty of time to write creative stuff. I felt like I had all the time in the world!
Oh, and I could play my music as loud as I wanted, watch the television while doing whatever I needed to get "done", my friends could be over and literally having wrestling matches... and I could still concentrate.
And then I got "old".
I can no longer survive on 3 or 4 hours of sleep. I can no longer sit in a room where there are sounds everywhere and be able to concentrate on my work. I have to have either my music on, or my audiobook on (and if I am working on copyediting, I can't do audiobook -
copyediting words while listening to words does not work), and they have to be at a relatively low level or I can't focus.
Ooof, and smells. Smells really get to me now. My guess is, when I was in college, things likely didn't smell very good, and I had no clue. NOW, things even smell the slightest bit off, and my nose is wrinkling up like crazy and my head starts to hurt and I feel like I need to get out of where-ever it is. Blech.
And I never feel like I have time. Ever. Never ever. I have many more things to do than I have time to get them done.
My parents crack me up, though. BOTH of them are losing their hearing. And when they come to visit, they stay in my office. (For context, I work from home, and my office is rather large - it is an additional apartment, and doubles as our guest house... kinda. More like a guest living room.) Anyway, I am working, but neither of my parents can hear anything. So they combat that by keeping the television as loud as possible, and trying to talk to one another over it - but they can't hear each other with the television off, much less with it on.
Needless to say, it is nearly impossible to concentrate. On anything.
So as I am sitting and struggling to concentrate, I thought back to when I could sit through literally anything and concentrate, and I wonder how I had that kind of will-power. I also wonder if I am just imagining things, and I actually couldn't concentrate at all, I just think I could. Maybe all of my superpowers were just imagined!
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We all have struggles as we get older. I get crotchety and grumpy, but adjust as best I can. I've always heard hearing goes first, but mine seems to have become more acute. (Actually, according to Brain Games, older people can't focus on quite as many things at once as younger people. I scoff at them, though. I am not old. Therefore, I just claim that my hearing has gotten better! That is my story, and I am... oh, well you know the phrase...)
So, unbeknownst to me, I have actually adjusted my writing surroundings - it helped. For the longest time, I couldn't write at all, and couldn't figure out why. I had to change things, because my needs had changed.
 I have made my room quieter - no more symbol crashing or heavy metal. That is saved for other times of day.
I actually write at a different time of day - when I was younger, I would write very late at night. Now, it isn't quite as late. Still late, usually, but not in the wee-hours of the morning after staying up all night. Now it'll be more around the time after dinner.
I no longer snack while writing. (I used to do that! But my papers would get all greasy, and I had to put my pencil/pen down all the time... bleh.)
As odd as it sounds, I now color while I write. (No really, I do.) Why? I don't know. I like coloring. The coloring doesn't always pair with the writing. I usually start with the coloring, and then I write. I think it's a relaxation thing. I don't question it, I just do it. After I color, I feel in more of a writing mood.
I have likely made other changes, and just haven't realized it. So, this leads to my question down in the Ask and Answer section, below the replies from my last newsletter. Scroll down, and let me know! |
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These are the comments I received from "Noticing Newbies Newsletter (May 17, 2017)" .
the Wordy Jay  said, "What a restaurant experience! You're right, Sara Jean -- every human encounter helps birth forth new characters for stories.  "
I am just starting to get to the point where I can chuckle at it, but we will likely never be returning to that particular restaurant! Goodness.
veronicaperrie said, "I also think that many times we blame prejudice when it's not. I am fair-haired and fair complexion and I get ignored as well. Sometimes it's the 'squeaky' wheel that get greased so make some noise at the FIRST instance of being ignored."
You may be right. And I want to point out that I wasn't blaming prejudice, it was only one of five personality/character types I pointed out that could be inspired by the situation, not that it was the reality of the situation. When considering inspiration from a bad situation, completely ignoring the possibility of a character being prejudiced would be silly, because prejudice in a book is an excellent way to create drama and reaction from the audience.
Sum1's In Schaumburg  said, "TIPS - To insure proper (Prompt) service. A tip is not a guarantee, it's given freely to thank the server. I too have served, and if I'd taken care of a table that poorly, I'd be mortified.... True, none of us are perfect, and we do get overloaded at times, but he should have asked a teammate or manager for help at that point."
Oh, I agree. I have worked as a waitress before. We are ones who never skimp on tips, but we are overly generous when we have particularly good servers. But then, we don't go out to eat all that often.
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This week's question - I'd love to hear from you!
Have your writing habits (whether the habits themselves or your surroundings while writing) changed over the years? How have they changed, and what caused those changes? |
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Noticing Newbies: June 14, 2017 Issue [#8342]
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