Six...

Wow.
I completely forgot that this blog existed. I suppose my promise of daily updates has flown straight out the window then, given the 13 month absence.
The last year has been a tough one. Intense battles with real estate agents, holidays interstate (overseas, if you count the Bass Straight), living in a garage for 11 months, my rats in foster, my cats trapped in the garage with my partner and I, financial distress and no immediate hope of escaping our shitty, shitty situation.
More important, I seem to be suffering from an intense writers block lately.
I have started playing tabletop roleplaying games with my partner and his friends as a sort of escape from the depressing events of our lives for the last little while. But even that is failing me somewhat.
We organised a game a long time ago (my first experience actually roleplaying, though I had sat in on many, many games in the past) and I poured my heart and soul into creating my character. I suppose I should add that the game we were playing is Vampire: The Masquerade. My characters background and history very quickly became a 3000 word short story detailing almost every event in her life. Who her friends were, where she lived, what made her into the vampire she was. We ended up playing one game.
One. Game.
We got a tiny fraction into the storyline, and then nobody has wanted to play since. I suppose because one of our players moved overseas, and another players character made us all want to shoot ourselves in the faces. But all that aside, I was bitterly disappointed. I wanted to play this character. I immersed myself in her. I wanted to know where her life was going to go. What wonderful adventures she would take part in. And then nothing.
My partner is our storyteller, and he has a few strict rules about characters. You can not play the same character in a completely separate game. I understand the need for this rule, but it is devastating. We have recently started a new game, with a whole new bunch of people, and I was thinking for days about a character I could write. All I could think about was Melinda. That was her name, Melinda Merle. I know this sounds like obsession, and to a point, it is. Melinda was everything I wanted to be. Beautiful, confident, successful.
In the new game, I ended up making a character a few minutes before everyone started to discuss their characters. It was disappointing to say the least. I didn't get nearly close to the connection I wanted. But I got halfway there, I based the character on one of the most interesting people I know. My Dad.
I am hoping that by starting this blog again, my writers block will cease and I can start to get creative. Perhaps I'll even write more about Melinda Merle (not that she needs any more story) but I think she could become a wonderful character for a book.
I've always wanted to be a writer. I thought about taking a creative writing course at university, but I was railroaded into a bachelor of nursing. I dropped out after only a few months. I was inspired to write by my senior high school EEnglish teacher. Ms Winderlich. She was a wonderful teacher (and I suppose she still is, however she doesn't teach at the school I used to attend anymore) and came up with fantastic stories. She told us about a few ideas she was working on in our English classes and I was always enthralled listening to them.
Who knows, maybe Melinda will become the create boost I need to start my dream career.
If anyone actually looks at this blog, let me know if you want to know a bit about Melinda. I may post some excerpts from her history if there is enough interest.