Filling up the pages

A clean page

Isn't that what a new year is about? Isn't that what writing is about? Filling up all of those blank pages with words, words, words until a narrative forms. ​

Only my pages are not so blank. My current work sits at halfway. Talk about a metaphor. If I look at my timespan on earth, I’m at about halfway. I might not be. My life might turn out to be more a novella than a grand, epic novel. If I look at the pages already written, there is plenty of drama, intrigue, pain, sorrow, and occasional joy bursts. One thing’s for sure, it doesn't have enough actual romance in it. 

Writing romance is one thing, finding romance another. 

I have a theory, so it has yet to be tested in scientific settings for reliability and validity, but I have a theory nonetheless, that never-married women sit rather low down on the social ladder. Oddly enough, if you’ve divorced once or more times, your status is elevated - the notion that you had been selected at some point, sufficient to carry you through the rest of your years. There even seems to be a number of workshops etc specifically for the plight of the divorcee. 

But for the never married? The ‘clean pages’ when it comes to all things matrimonial?

Ten things you’re most likely to hear as a never married/permanently single/clearly ridiculously impossible to please person:

1. Someone met someone on internet dating and now they're married. 
2. He/she’s out there somewhere
3. It’s when you’re not looking that you find someone (never to be suggested when looking for a job)
4. You’re too picky
5. I’ve got this great guy/girl- he/she’d be perfect for you
6. Maybe you’re not looking in the right place (thought you weren't supposed to be looking at all)
7. It will happen when you least expect it (except when internet dating…you do kind of expect to find something)
8. Don’t give up hope
9. I can’t believe you’re not with someone, you’re so smart/beautiful/funny/insert superlative here
10. If you moved to <insert far flung country in a different continent>, you’d probably find love

And then an added extra bonus one - You need to get out there. Out where? Bars? Tinder? A plane as it ascends thirty thousand feet? Single people are out there. All. The. Time. 

The truth is, no-one knows when and how you might meet someone. I don't know how and when that particular narrative will form. For some of my characters, they don't meet people on the internet, are picky and choosy with all of their decisions, and have given up hope. They still find love. 

With every blank sheet, there’s still the possibility of romance forming. Happy New Year, 2017.