Did I listen to myself? Hell to the no I did not. Instead I slept in (8:05 a.m.), made coffee, read the paper, thought about exercising, and then remembered that the Maytag repair guy was coming. I have a dryer on the fritz and ten loads of wash to do, so at 9:30 a.m. Maytag guy shows up. He says after examining the dryer, "Yep, it's broken. Gonna cost you an arm and leg to fix..." OK! He didn't say that, but did say it was broken and would cost close to $300.00 to fix it, so next thing I know, I'm on my way to buy a new dryer. (And by the way, does anyone know the origin of "on the fritz." Did some guy named Fritz break a lot of stuff?)
Six hundred dollars and change later, I get back home. Dryer gets delivered tomorrow afternoon, so now that I don't have to do wash until then, I have the afternoon to write. No problem. I can get right back into it. Wrong! I turn on the laptop and see I have emails. After deleting the ads, I answer a few and decide, since I'm on the Internet, to look at blogs. Wouldn't you know it, today all my blog haunts interested me, thus, writing comments was next on my agenda.
Yada yada. Phone rings, daughter calling. More yada yada. I look at email again, receive one from Piperlime.com announcing 20% off on all shoes. SHOES! Other than dark chocolate, shoes are my crack. Of course, I have to check out each and every pair on their goddamn website.
Give me a heavy sigh, because now it's closing on 4:00 p.m. and I am no longer IN THE MOOD. Don't bother lighting the candles, chilling champagne, or massaging my feet. I'm done for the day.
But, I did get me a really cool pair of shoes. What do you think? And while you're marveling over my hot find, care to share how you force yourself back into writing when not in the mood?
14 comments:
Sweet shoes!
That's a question that has mystified me for a long time. The only way I know how to get back in the writing mood is if I stop at a really good point and I'm dying to know how the scene plays out. It doesn't always work, but it worked wonders for one book.
Something else that has also helped is reading some of my favorite writers. They put me in the mood to want to write, too. After all, they're the reasons why I started this road to lunacy. ;-)
I can't wait to get those shoes! I'll let you know how they look in the flesh.
Great idea - reading others extraordinary writing. This round, though, I'll just re-read the last chapter I wrote in the WIP (keeping an open mind and ignoring the inner critic). Tomorrow is another day; tomorrow, tomorrow, I'll love ya tomorrow... :)
Writing is what I want to do, but promo for the ATV contest got in my way last few weeks. Now that the first round voting is done, I'm happy to be writing again. I've been jealous of all the progress my NaNo friends have made. Jealousy helps. :)
LOL... I'm not a shoe person. In fact, since I hurt my feet, I can wear very few shoes. But yours look pretty.
Reading helps. Sometimes retyping favorite authors, will get me flowing, and then I can keep going in my WIP.
You already know the answer: you write regardless of your mood.
Last year I had the flu and one day I felt so bad I could barely sit upright. I thought I had a good excuse to take the day off. But instead I sat in front of the computer with the intent of typing just one sentence before collapsing. A few thousand words later I felt I had just written the best scene of my life.
Mood, schmood.
Edie, usually jealousy is another word for humbling, writers think that other authors are so much better. But you are turning the tables on the inner critic. Way to go! (I'm so jealous, lol)
Spy, retyping favorite authors is a great idea. I can see how that would push me in the mood faster than listening to Barry White. ;)
Stephen, you win, but not without disagreement. I have a hard time typing if I'm puking.
Seriously, though, I think it's also good to take a day off and re-stock the pond, otherwise a writer can risk getting wrung out. This is strictly my opinion, mind you. Sometimes I need to get my mind out there and refill the muse.
Gorgeous shoes! But *my* feet hurt just looking at them. I can't wear heels like that high anymore.
I've had many a day like yours, Kath, and I don't push myself when that happens. I try and think about the story (while I'm doing all those other things) and then with any luck, I'm struck with something - a word, a feeling - something, that gets me back in the chair and excited to write.
Have a great day today!
When you figure it out will you let me know?
I am writing, writing, writing but I am avoiding my novel.
What on earth is up with THAT???
Robin, I'm with you. Whenever I push myself I end up with pages of crap. Yes, I know the editing phase will clean that up, but still, if I'm not feeling it I get lost and the inner critic wins.
Today I'm ready to get back the feeling...time to cue the Barry White tunes. :)
Amy, it's not you. I think that maybe the novel isn't ready. Soon it'll start talking to you again. As a matter of fact, the one I'm working on now is a ms I completed four years ago. This past June or July the main character somehow popped back into my head and told me how the story really should have went.
I've since torn it apart, kept the characters, and started over.
For me the hardest part of writing when I'm not in the mood is just getting started. First of all, I remind myself of that, which helps. Secondly, if it's still bad I'll set a timer and tell myself that I just have to write until the timer rings. By the time it does, it's usually much easier to keep going than it was to get started in the first place. Plus I've actually accomplished something, so I feel good about that already, which helps.
Caryn, great idea with the timer setting. I might try that one.
Post a Comment