PAUSE :: Questions ~ Reflection ~ Sharing

April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge Bonus Post: Letters PQRS

Bonus post? you are wondering. Why do we need a bonus post, Feve?

Well, you don’t *need* one, really.

But I ended up combining letters a little differently than originally planned once I got to the middle of the alphabet, which means that according to my pre-determined A-to-Z posting schedule, I’m a little ahead of myself.

So I thought i’d take a time-out and just, y’know… Talk to you for a minute.

How are you doing?

Me… My life really hasn’t experienced the same kind{s} of upheaval others’ has during this time. I am still going to work – though I’m working only one contract outside of my house right now and that one doesn’t pay great – which means I still have an income; it’s just reduced. My husband and I are healthy. Aside from ‘going out’ (for dinner or shopping or other errand-running) having become ‘staying in’, life is pretty much proceeding as normal.

I’m an introvert and a homebody, so I don’t feel any kind of social deprivation as a result of the stay-home orders. Hubs… It’s a little tougher on him in that way, I think; he’s a much more social creature than I am. Zoom is a thing though. And we’re learning how to use it. Me, for work (though it’s not terribly conducive to What I Do For A Living). Him, for play.

I think a lot of people are doing more reading than usual. I always read a lot, and my to-be-read pile is in the hundreds, so the biggest difference to my Reading Life is that I’m not visiting any book stores and therefore am not adding to the to-be-read pile at a faster rate than I’m finishing the ones already there.

*smile*

Blogging…

How’s blogging for you right now? As a reader? As a writer?

I’m doing the A-to-Z Challenge for the third year. (Those of you who read here regularly already know that.) And, y’know… It’s working well for me this time around.

As a reader, I’ve found some new blogs to follow. (At least for the duration of the challenge. After that, it’s hard to say.) I don’t know if it’s my age or the way writing my own posts has brought up so many memories of family or what, but I’ve taken an interest in a couple of blogs that focus on genealogy this time around. Which is a bit of a departure for me. (Though maybe it isn’t, so much. I’ve always enjoyed studying History; I minored in the subject in college.)

Writing-wise… Combining letters has made the posting schedule much less hectic than in years past. Which means I can take my time over content in a way that I didn’t really do before. I can’t speak to my readers’ experiences (feel free to chime in if you’d like to share yours!), but it seems like people are fairly engaged, which makes me happy. 🙂 And having a theme has been an interesting exercise. An exercise that’s brought about an idea for a bigger project, actually.

I’m thinking of doing a Memoir project.

I haven’t really worked out the details; it’s more of a semi-formed half-idea at this point. But my September Song Project started out like that, and that one worked out well. So perhaps this will be the same way. 🙂

The basic idea, I guess, would be to write one memoir-esque piece per week over a series of _____ weeks.

See, in exploring the various facets of my Health/y/ness theme for my A-to-Z posts this month, I’ve been… surprised, I guess… like, in an “…oh…” kind of way… at how much of The Past has come up for me. Sometimes in difficult ways, but also just in acknowledgment. Like, “Yeah, that happened. That was part of my life.” And I think, on some level, that those reminders and acceptances (and the various trains of thought/feeling that they are branching off to) are influencing me right now, from an inspiration standpoint, and I’d like to *do* something with the memories.

But I’m not sure how, exactly. Not yet.

I’m also not sure whether any of you (yes, YOU!) would be interested in joining in with such a project.

???

If you are, I was thinking I could post prompts – broad ones, with plenty of wiggle room and no obligation to follow them – and you could write your own memories along with me. Sex/y or otherwise.

So… That’s the basic idea.

I thought I’d share it with you. 🙂

What do you think?