So, like, I've mentioned before that I suffer from depression. I've been in a social media/life funk. Haven't been Facebooking, haven't been blog, reading, haven't been writing. Been watching a LOT of Hulu, though, which is about as helpful as a coma. Anyway, I took April off blogging and am having a really hard time getting back into the swing of things. Want to get back to regular weekly blogging, in the hopes that any kind of creative writing will prime my fiction-writing pump, as it were. But I've really no desire whatever to even think up a topic, much less write something worth reading about it. The weekend melted away and Monday, my supposedly regular day for my weekly blog post, loomed. WTF could I do in the remaining hours of Sunday to light a fire under my blogging ass?I could Google "blog topics."
And I did.
That search turned up Hubspot's Blog Topic Generator. There, you provide three nouns you want to write about and the site spins out five blog post titles to aid in lighting a fire under your blogging ass.
Who the hell knew such a thing existed? Well, I do now.
The words which immediately came to me were, unsurprisingly:
- Love
- Man
- Sex
Because yes indeed, folks—I have a one-track mind. (Hey, there's something to be said for consistency, OK? Gimme a damn break.)
One of the five resultant titles did capture my imagination, and it was this:
What Will Love Be Like in 100 Years?
My initial response was, "The fuck should I know?"
But then the gears got to grinding (in my brain, people, not in any tawdry devices you may be envisioning) (more's the pity), and it seemed to me that, while technology, gender roles, and hairstyles may change (and thank GAWD they do), love never does.
Right? I mean, how love is expressed will vary: culturally, generationally, socio-economically, and even within the course of any given relationship. But we all still express love, don't we, on some level, to some degree? The ways love messes with your mood doesn't change: we can still ride the roller-coaster from caring, to lust, to fury, to worry, to caring again in, like, 3 seconds flat.
That love guides behavior, such as setting your cap after a love object, making some kind of commitment, maybe building and filling a nest, has been true for thousands of years, y'all. I can't see it changing, like, ever.
Can you?
I hope you recapture your creative mojo soon, Mina! You've got me wondering if you're experiencing the kind of deflated feeling that one can get after coming home to everyday routines after a great vacation. So much work, focus and anticipation went into releasing your novel... then suddenly it's just done and out in the world, and no longer demanding your attention, heart and soul. Writing might just be the cure to the not-feeling-like-writing funk. ❤
ReplyDeleteWhen you're right, you're right, Emma. :-) ❤
DeleteI've been in a funk lately, too. Definitely makes it hard to keep up with the blogosphere and the like! So sorry to hear that your depression has been keeping you from writing. Good luck finally getting back into the swing of things!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Heather. Astrologically speaking, Mars was retrograde from March 1 till May 19, so I expected to feel a bit more of the old get-up-an-go...now I think that's gone off and left! :-)
DeleteGetting back into blogging is hard. I've slowed down a lot recently - I can never think of topics, so I might google too!
ReplyDeleteAs for love, I can see it becoming harder to meet people to love - not just romantic love, but friends as well. We're getting more and more caught up in social media and putting a barrier between ourselves and other people. So perhaps, being off-line for a while isn't such a bad thing?
Actually, I've met more people through social media (who've become "real life" friends whom I've met in person) than I have in my so-called "real life." (And was romantically involved with one of them, many moons ago.) :-)
DeleteSorry you haven't been up to blogging or Facebooking lately. :( As to blog topics, just do what Seinfeld did and make a blog post about nothing. :D lol
ReplyDeleteLOL, good one, JoJo. And I think that's what I wind up doing most of the time, anyway. ;-)
DeleteSorry you've been in a funk.
ReplyDeleteInteresting way to generate blog topics. Never knew it existed either.
Will love change? Love itself won't, but I think the ability to understand real love will diminish some due to the disconnect of the world we live in now.
Thanks, Alex. I think with the advances in modern technology, and the far readier availability of information, as well as ability to reach people all over the world, that humans are far more connected than they've ever been in history.
DeleteNice to know there's a blog idea/title generator out there! It may come to that for me...I've been in a funk, too. Sometimes the only way out is waiting it out, and wading through. Sounds like that's what you're doing.
ReplyDeleteI think we'll find new ways to express our love (for some reason the airplanes flying by on the beach with the banners dragged behind, "Laura, will you marry me?" comes to mind...they didn't do those 100 years ago. I do worry about the disconnect some mentioned. It is harder to meet people these days (my single friends tell me). In a sense though, what disconnects us can also be what does connect us. My cousin met her wonderful husband through eHarmony.
So yeah, my answer is I don't know and I think I'll go take a nap ;-)
Tina @ Life is Good
On the Open Road! @ Join us for the 4th Annual Post-Challenge Road Trip!
I think the bulk of the acquaintances we make are through school, work, and maybe later, through out kids' schools, and whatnot. Once we're into our 30s and whatnot, the "real life" opportunities may narrow, but I think that you're quite right, in that online stuff like match-making sites allow for MORE, not fewer, opportunities for folks to connect. Online interest groups do the same for friendships, you know what I mean?
DeleteHmmm, I wonder if there's a blog post in all this connectedness business??? ;-)
I took the whole month of April off too and just like you, I've been having a heck of a time trying to get back into the swing of things. uggg. But a blog topic generator sounds like something I need to check out, pronto. As for what I think love will be like in 100 years? I don't know. I guess we'd have to properly define love first, and we all know how easy that is! :P
ReplyDeleteI think it's super easy! In fact, I first did it in this blog post, and then provided the other side of the cloud in this one! (Clearly, I'm not above tooting my own horn.) (Which reads awfully dirty to me, all of a sudden...) ;-)
DeleteThank you for the heads-up about the blog topic generator and hey, I love your first picks! I'm sorry to hear about the disenchantment with blogging. Depression will suck the vital juices out of everything and it can be hard to see anything around its big, lumpy mass. I hope some fresh air comes through soon and you can make some posts, get some good feedback and pleasure from those posts and carry on.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rhissanna. Chin up and all that. :-D
DeleteI've been out of blogging mode for months and months. But the writing is going well. If I do it first thing in the morning and don't set my expectations high. My husband has been working at home. Kids will be home all day starting next Monday. Must soundproof the internal walls or get up to write while everyone else is sleeping.
ReplyDeleteAs for love - I dunno. I think expression of love has changed over time - technology has changed things. People read Shakespeare now and get it that Romeo is expressing love. But if anyone spoke like that now - even without the iambic pentameter - one would suspect he is a little over the top and full of crap. No? Am I just cynical?
Glad the writing's going well for you, Tonja. And LOL at the Romeo comment ~ I have to say, I find that whole story less romantic and loving than ridiculous glorification of the impetuosity of people, young and old. So if you're cynical, you're in excellent company. :-)
DeleteYeah but, did you write something - besides a blog post. Although, I've been in this same funk and do consider even pressing "like" on a FB comment to be "writing" enough lately.
ReplyDeleteNeed more wine and better "devices", lol.
HAH! Amen, Donna. And thanks for the support. :-)
DeleteI just stumbled on that topic generator the other day. It's cool, huh?
ReplyDeleteLove your take on the prompt. ;)
Hey. I got a book idea from watching a silly clip on AFV once. Maybe you could try that.
That's a good tip, thanks!
DeleteI actually have a bunch of WIPs tapping their fingernails while I wallow in crap...LOL, In my mind's ear I suddenly heard the character of Pete telling Shaun (from Shaun of the Dead) to sort his life out. Hah. :-)