Tales from a Bruised Mind

Last weekend, I decided to be a little bit brave and go camping solo for the very first time. I packed my things into my Ute and headed well away from inner Sydney where I live.

I have always loved camping and enjoying the outdoors, but I guess life just got busy and so I had work and more work to deal with first. Fair enough. That’s just modern life, isn’t it?

I have grown pretty accustom to living alone, I did it for an entire year when I first moved south to Sydney. It was one of the hardest things I’ve done so far.

But I wasn’t expecting to feel a similar way when I went camping solo.

At first, I felt a bit of fear. Most of all, I felt obviously lonely and was a bit lost with what to do. I had no phone reception, a couple of books and food (of course). But that was the extent of it.

But then I began to realise that disconnecting like this was good for me. And I’ll try to explain why.

I had a lot of time to just sit and think about stuff without distractions

As old man sounding as that is, I had the time to reflect on what my life was like in the moment.

I thought a lot about my writing and where I wanted that to go later in my life.

I ultimately felt inspired to go and write more and do more for this growing hobby, either through this very blog or with my book/s, which you can read about right here on this website.

I felt like I had got some of my passion back, even if was just a slither.

But a slither is all I need, to be honest.

The inspiration has partially come from the Dummies Guide to Writing Fiction

I took two books away camping, one which was actor Sam Neill’s autobiography, and the other, the Dummies Guide to Writing Fiction.

Don’t judge me!

I have found that committing to a book is hard work, and much more difficult than I ever thought, so I thought that this book might help.

At first, a lot of its contents were obvious, but sitting out there in nature reading this book was a big step. I learnt a lot.

I didn’t have my phone to distract me, or other people, or other tasks. I could focus entirely on the contents of the book.

And that made a big difference.

Reading can definitely inspire writing and editing

I returned home from the little camping trip feeling refreshed and ready to continue on with my book project.

I have a heck of a lot of words to edit, but I’ve come to realise that’s also part of the fun.

It’s a journey, this writing stuff.

I’m now half way through the first edit. I’m just hoping that with new insights, it’s going to be better than ever.

Take care,

Zak