Keep Calm & Watch a Chick Flick

It seems like lately at the writing group meetings I've been at, we've talked about such topics as how to make a story, how to create characters, and how to effectively create a "world" in a good story. In these discussions, we've mentioned certain fictional characters in books and movies. I had seen my fair share of movies before I put pen to paper, and have "stolen" ideas from a lot of them. I've noticed watching movies allows me to relax. Therefore, I appreciate them now more than any other time in my life.

I'm currently in a season of my life where my focus is on some minor but important personal matters. As a result, it has kept me from not only writing as much as I'd like to (or what I'm used to), but from having some time to "chill", to sit and do nothing. Therefore, my time to watch movies is catch-as-catch-can.

It's in these ultra-busy seasons of my life I mind the HALT approach. That stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired. Any time you feel any one of those, you need to halt, to not make a decision or say something you're going to regret. Simply put, listen to your body.

What my body was telling me Sunday morning: You're working too hard. Watch a movie; that's long overdue.

One of the intermediate-term projects my husband and I have is to find a good way to stream TV shows and movies. In looking around and not yet finding a good deal, I found Digital Hoopla. As I started to search for a good movie to watch, I noticed one of them was 13 Going on 30. I remember watching that when I was around 30. I had been curious about it. And I remember hating it, thinking it was the dumbest, cheesiest movie I had ever seen. I was determined to never watch it again if I could possibly help it.

Not too long ago, I was in a conversation with a good friend of mine. Somehow, we got to talking about 13 Going on 30. She told me she has been that movie hundreds of times! This dear friend of mine and I have similar tastes in movies. This led me to believe it was an indirect way of telling me that I need to not only make the time to watch movies but to give that movie another try. After all, I'm a different person from what I was back then.

It got my attention from the very first second. The movie opens up with "Head Over Heels" by the Go-Gos. The opening lines of the song were what I was feeling, word-for-word: "Been running so long/I've nearly lost all track of time/In every direction/I couldn't see the warning signs/I must be losin' it"...

I was intrigued (finally)!

As the movie unfolded, I asked myself, What was I thinking in not liking this movie? I can relate to it because it takes place in the 80s. Last night, it served as a departure from, in modern-day vernacular, "adulting".

As the movie wrapped up, tears moistened my eyes for the first time in a long time. It may have been the sweet ending to 13 Going on 30 impacted me more than it should have. Or it may have also been the relief I felt after working so hard most days of the week.

No wonder I wasn't ready to get up this morning to be an adult. I didn't want to pay bills, iron part of the permanent press load, clean the kitchen, or even go to the grocery store. In spite of my apathy, I did all of the above anyway.

I guess I needed some time to be like a teenager again, to dream of what awesome things I can do with my life. I know in making the time to watch this simple and funny chick flick, I'll be a stronger, more inspired writer.

With that said, I wrap up this post with this mantra: We are young! Heartache to heartache, we stand.