Aramis: Where have you been?
Porthos: Taking care of something ugly!
-The Three Musketeers (Disney, 1993)
How does one find the time to write?
Some weeks ago, I had the plague. It seemed that everyone around me was catching it, and then it hit my house. One housemate had it. Then my landlady and her husband got it. Surrounded by all this plagueyness going on, I was bound to get something. It was inevitable.
Then... I caught the plague.
Some weeks ago, I had the plague. It seemed that everyone around me was catching it, and then it hit my house. One housemate had it. Then my landlady and her husband got it. Surrounded by all this plagueyness going on, I was bound to get something. It was inevitable.
Then... I caught the plague.
Well, okay... not the full-blown plague. Maybe the mini-plague.
Okay, it was more of a cold. (Let's not pick nits, shall we?)
I don't usually get sick. Sure, I get the occasional migraine or body ache from Aunt Flow or when the weather changes it causes my sinuses to go all haywire, but as far as full-blown, have to call in sick to work because I can't walk/talk/eat/digest/feel anything... that rarely happens.
But when it does, it happens BIG TIME!
Usually when I feel the beginnings of anything plague-ish coming on, I try and nip it in the bud as soon as possible.
My method of choice? I'm a heavy medicator. It usually does the job along with vitamins and a good dosage of fluids (tea, juice, water - that sort of thing). I try to get as natural and organic as I can, but alas - I cannot. One of these days I'm sure with all the medicine that's in me, you would be able to shut off the lights, and I would like a giant heifer lightning bug... but I'm hoping the amount of fluids I consume during such sick moments flushes out the medicine aftermath rather sufficiently so as not to make my innards too toxic. LOL!
Okay, it was more of a cold. (Let's not pick nits, shall we?)
I don't usually get sick. Sure, I get the occasional migraine or body ache from Aunt Flow or when the weather changes it causes my sinuses to go all haywire, but as far as full-blown, have to call in sick to work because I can't walk/talk/eat/digest/feel anything... that rarely happens.
But when it does, it happens BIG TIME!
Usually when I feel the beginnings of anything plague-ish coming on, I try and nip it in the bud as soon as possible.
My method of choice? I'm a heavy medicator. It usually does the job along with vitamins and a good dosage of fluids (tea, juice, water - that sort of thing). I try to get as natural and organic as I can, but alas - I cannot. One of these days I'm sure with all the medicine that's in me, you would be able to shut off the lights, and I would like a giant heifer lightning bug... but I'm hoping the amount of fluids I consume during such sick moments flushes out the medicine aftermath rather sufficiently so as not to make my innards too toxic. LOL!
I've been surrounded by A LOT of sick people lately so I haven't been able to do much in the way of writing, but I'm getting better and hoping to change that.
Before the plague hit, I managed to do a little writing. My brain was void of inspiration toward the three main writing projects I've been working on, but I managed to do this and this so I suppose all was not lost. After all, I wrote something, right?
This post, in fact, some could say "Why bother with this and not actual writing?"
Well, awesome question Bubba. And the only thing that I can say to that is I'm not in the zone.
At this moment in time, working a FRAK-ton of overtime combined with the minimal amount of sleep I've been getting nightly (thank you Insomnia, you cruel bitch of a mistress) leaves my body and mind almost completely dead to the world. As I type, I am writing through a stream of consciousness that will either sound coherently grand or like the Peanuts teacher on acid.
Right now, I have various ideas running through my head but nothing totally solid I can pinpoint and work on. It's like trying to remember your favorite dish from some restaurant you went to years ago, and all you can say is, "It had a peppery taste" or "I think it had something to do with fish".
Point is, I need to be less brain dead and more able to concentrate/focus my will toward my writing.
As it stands, this job assignment (lovely-paying as it may be) is sucking the life out of me, and I hate that. Aside from draining my creative juices, it's also wreaking havoc on my social life (what there is of one). One of my personal issues is that I refuse to let my job be my life. I refuse for my daily routine to be "get up, shower, go to work, come home, eat, sleep"... only to continue it on and on, day in and day out.
I've gone out here and there, but then I end up passing out at the end of the night when I planned to write when I got home. Then I swear up and down that I'll write the next day and then something happens.
Needless to say, I feel rather fucked at the moment.
(Yes, I know, I said a bad word. Get over yourselves. Take a breath. It happens.)
This blog was to be about me and my writing and how I'm going about that, but dammit... it's just not flowing as I wish it to be, and it's really pissing me off.
I mean, I have a GOAL for criminey sakes!!! Yes, it's eight months away, but I'd like it to happen sooner than that... and be a book deal as opposed to just a short story in an awesome magazine, but hey... I'll take what I can get.
So I wonder...
Now I know all us writers experience "writer's block" from time to time, but what about "writer's time" or "writer's exhaustion"? I find it hard to believe that I'm the only one having this issue.
Anyone else? Anyone? Bueller?
Share with me your writing plan and how you achieve it. (I once went to a book signing of Terry Pratchett where he said he tried to write at least 300 words a day. If he didn't write everyday, he wouldn't be able to call himself a writer... he'd just be a bum.) I'm paraphrasing, but you get the gist.
I tried to follow in the lovely man's footsteps. (Awesome man. Love his work. So brilliant and funny.) But there are just days where I have it in here (taps noggin), but just can't seem to channel down here (refers to arms) and eventually flow out of here (waggles fingers) to get it onto the page whether it be electronic or paper.
So how do you deal with your tired moments?
What do you do to get that writing energy (mental AND physical) to bust out that novel, short story, fanfiction, poem... or whatever it is that you write?
What do you do?
How do you do?
Share with me... if for nothing else to let me know that I'm not alone.
Please... don't make me turn to the bottle. (Well, unless it's a yummy one!) LOL!
Later my lovelies.
Have Goodness!
Rae
Well, awesome question Bubba. And the only thing that I can say to that is I'm not in the zone.
At this moment in time, working a FRAK-ton of overtime combined with the minimal amount of sleep I've been getting nightly (thank you Insomnia, you cruel bitch of a mistress) leaves my body and mind almost completely dead to the world. As I type, I am writing through a stream of consciousness that will either sound coherently grand or like the Peanuts teacher on acid.
Right now, I have various ideas running through my head but nothing totally solid I can pinpoint and work on. It's like trying to remember your favorite dish from some restaurant you went to years ago, and all you can say is, "It had a peppery taste" or "I think it had something to do with fish".
Point is, I need to be less brain dead and more able to concentrate/focus my will toward my writing.
As it stands, this job assignment (lovely-paying as it may be) is sucking the life out of me, and I hate that. Aside from draining my creative juices, it's also wreaking havoc on my social life (what there is of one). One of my personal issues is that I refuse to let my job be my life. I refuse for my daily routine to be "get up, shower, go to work, come home, eat, sleep"... only to continue it on and on, day in and day out.
I've gone out here and there, but then I end up passing out at the end of the night when I planned to write when I got home. Then I swear up and down that I'll write the next day and then something happens.
Needless to say, I feel rather fucked at the moment.
(Yes, I know, I said a bad word. Get over yourselves. Take a breath. It happens.)
This blog was to be about me and my writing and how I'm going about that, but dammit... it's just not flowing as I wish it to be, and it's really pissing me off.
I mean, I have a GOAL for criminey sakes!!! Yes, it's eight months away, but I'd like it to happen sooner than that... and be a book deal as opposed to just a short story in an awesome magazine, but hey... I'll take what I can get.
So I wonder...
Now I know all us writers experience "writer's block" from time to time, but what about "writer's time" or "writer's exhaustion"? I find it hard to believe that I'm the only one having this issue.
Anyone else? Anyone? Bueller?
Share with me your writing plan and how you achieve it. (I once went to a book signing of Terry Pratchett where he said he tried to write at least 300 words a day. If he didn't write everyday, he wouldn't be able to call himself a writer... he'd just be a bum.) I'm paraphrasing, but you get the gist.
I tried to follow in the lovely man's footsteps. (Awesome man. Love his work. So brilliant and funny.) But there are just days where I have it in here (taps noggin), but just can't seem to channel down here (refers to arms) and eventually flow out of here (waggles fingers) to get it onto the page whether it be electronic or paper.
So how do you deal with your tired moments?
What do you do to get that writing energy (mental AND physical) to bust out that novel, short story, fanfiction, poem... or whatever it is that you write?
What do you do?
How do you do?
Share with me... if for nothing else to let me know that I'm not alone.
Please... don't make me turn to the bottle. (Well, unless it's a yummy one!) LOL!
Later my lovelies.
Have Goodness!
Rae
