From the Umbrella Stand - Update 1

From Puddles to Projects

Grey clouds roll away from the meadow, and the lush green ground fills with puddles. The writer stands in the center of it all. She closes her umbrella and breathes in the fresh air of new stories. Old friends from stories past wave from the glassy surface. She waves back; she loved those stories, and most of them she is proud of.

As if the meadow calls to her, she takes off running, yellow rain boots splashing through the words she'd created. The desire to create fills her. Tucking the umbrella under her arm, she heads back to her desk. Her yellow rain boots fade into her slippers as she takes a seat at her desk. It's fun to pretend, but there are stories to write, and words find.

A heavy sigh leaves her as she stares at a blank page for the seventh week in a row. She has no new ideas for the short stories she writes, had she used them all up? It can't be because of writer's block; she has stories she wants to tell, just no time to tell them.

She clicks on the tab for the document where her next story sits, a novel she's poured nearly four years into; she can practically see Beth and her other characters sit waiting, nursing their wounds, "Sorry, guys, my alpha reader hasn't finished reading it yet." They grumble and kick at the dirt, "Hey feedbacks important, just because I love the story we've built doesn't mean it's perfect."

She closes both tabs and flips back to her website. She's poured so much time into getting it just right. Finding colour schemes and the layout that fit just right. Creating the perfect home for the world of puddles, she's created. If she stopped sharing short stories, what would be the point of all this? What purpose would her website serve other than as a landing page for work as an author? Which, if that's all, it's going to be, why not find a cheaper option?

Her phone dinged, another notification from social media. Right, she needed to take pictures, shoot a short video and come up with note-worthy captions today, too.

With a heavy sigh, she pushes away from her desk, letting the wheels of her chair take her to the center of her office. Too much; between her job that pays her bills, writing, and social media, it's simply too much. So what could she do?

She throws her head and closes her eyes, and slowly breathes.

In

Out

Inhale

Exhale

She gets up from her chair and walks away from the desk. She walks to her living room, and on her bookshelf, she finds the book she released last year. She runs her hand down the spine of the book. Sharing her created worlds with others was never the problem. The performance of it all was. With purpose, she turns from the shelf, "Alright, it's time for a change. Nothing major, or too crazy, just different. Maybe my readers would be okay with seeing glimps of my world for a while." She walks back towards her desk, and picks up her yellow umbrella leaning against her desk, the one she used in all her marketing pictures, "It's time take a break from short stories." She sets it on a hook in the wall, "At least for now." She sits back in her chair and pulls herself back to the desk.

Yes, for now, work on the "big projects" and keep people in the loop about her life and writing without being so dependent on her social media presence, with fun little updates disguised as stories for people to read.

She moves to start typing, to make the changes, only for a little black nose to nudge her elbow, "You're right. Miss Flo, this can wait." And the writer gets up from her desk and goes to play fetch with her new puppy.

A Note From AnnaRose:

Hey there, puddle jumpers! I hope you enjoyed this little format change. I don't have the time or energy to write a new story every month right now, so we're gonna try this fun update as a story thing once a month for a while, so I can give all my focus to my next big projects. For more personal behind-the-scenes updates from me, sign up for Umbrella Ramblings and get access to the Puddle Jumping Library!