Today, I was talking to my sister on the phone, and I told her I was walking to Mordor.

“One Does Not Simply Walk into Mordor”

Boromir

She laughed a little and said I was… I interjected that I was going on so many cool adventures, but she continued with …such a nerd.

Well, yeah…

Thing is, I love walking, and I used to walk a lot. A lot. We lived in a city, and I walked to the shop, walked to work, walked my two dogs, walked as soon as I was to see someone. I don’t have a drivers license, so I walk.

Now, we live in the middle nowhere, and there is no shop. It takes me fifteen minutes to walk to work, and, with the pandemic, that’s not happening very often. The kids go by bus to school, and hubby does the shopping when he’s out driving. The result is that I don’t walk nearly as much as I used to.

So, I decided it’s time for a change.

I started to walk to Mordor back in 2017 – I walked from Hobbiton to Rivendell, which is 458 miles (though I walked in the woods around our house, of course. I haven’t really been to Hobbiton LOL). Then I didn’t have the energy to keep track anymore.

I followed nerdfitness’ instructions, but I lost track, so I stopped. Now, I found an app! It’s called *drum roll* Walk to Mordor. I’m currently in Bag End, but hey, I’m starting now!

I’m to walk 3109.17 km, or 1932 miles if you prefer that over kilometres. It’ll take a while…

But, come on, let’s walk to Mordor! 

 

“I’m glad to be with you, Samwise Gamgee…here at the end of all things.”

Frodo

I don’t believe in a muse, not really. I think creativity and productivity have its ups and downs, but I’ve always been of the idea that I can always write. If I only tell myself to, I can write.

Some months I write a little, some months I write a lot. When I don’t write I’m miserable, and yet I have to force myself to get my arse in the chair, but I do it.

Usually, I make myself write 500 words. When I struggle, that’s my goal. Sit down, write 500 words. It doesn’t matter if those are 500 words are as crappy as can be, as long as I get them down, I’ve done my part. And once I’ve written those 500 words, it usually a lot easier to write the next day.

Now, I can’t seem to get anything down. I haven’t been to work for over a week, and since I work at a mushroom farm there is no working from home. So, I’m home without pay and without anything (ha!) to do. And yet, I can’t write.

My muse has fled.

Or it’s more that my mind is fractured. I can’t focus. I worry. I watch the news. I’ve never logged in on Facebook as often as I do now. I’m planting things, thinking what if there won’t be enough food in the shops. I don’t really think it will come to that, but every so often a what if is whispered in my mind.

And what if I don’t have a job to go back to once this is over?

My dream has always been to be a fulltime writer, but I’d hoped I’d at least make enough money to feed my children when I became one.

But, it is what it is. So what do you say, should we do 500 words? I have a guy tied to a flagpole at the roof of an apartment building. I should be able to get somewhere with that, right?