Mood Indigo is one of my all-time favorite Frank Sinatra songs. Unfortunately, it is also the only song on my CD of his, In the Wee Small Hours, that skips.
And that's exactly what my writing was doing to me today. Skipping. Stuttering. Tripping.
I even noticed it at work. I'm a copywriter, for goodness sake, and I couldn't write today. I tried. I stared at the copy and tried to relax, tried to get my brain to come up with something brilliant.
Nothing. (And I think I looked exactly like this picture my daughter drew when she was 2 1/2).
Tonight, I had the night off - my daughter stayed with her dad while I got the evening to myself. So I ordered take-out, finished watching Decision Before Dawn (a World War II movie nominated for Best Picture in 1951), and did a little reading. When 8 p.m. rolled around, I thought, ok. I've got two hours before I need to go to bed. Perfect time to write!
I put in my Frank Sinatra CD, lit a couple of candles, and sat down to write. I wanted to write - I honestly did. But nothing but rubbish came out. And I do mean rubbish. I don't think any of this stuff is fixable.
I was so completely frustrated! I tried to write through it, tried to focus and breathe and pray and just envision what my characters were doing, but it didn't help. And that to me signified that it was time for a break.
I guess writers can have "off" days just like athletes. But it sure would be nice if those "off" days would coincide with the days when I really don't want to write!
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Writers definitely have off days. It's kinda like when you're shopping and you have money in your pocket but there's nothing you want to buy. But when you see something you really really want, you're broke and you have no money. It's kinda like that.
ReplyDeleteYou wanna write but it's just not coming. You have little time to write but the words just flow out and you wish you had more time.
Ahhh, the eternal catch-22.
:)
Hope your writing doesn't give you fits today.
Alas, days we're off in our writing generally do NOT coincide with the days we just don't WANT to write. Believe it's a corollary of Murphy's Law. Hope things go better today!!
ReplyDeleteThat's a beautiful picture! I'm glad you kept it. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, sometimes the writing skips, stutters and heaven forbid, stops. I shrug and remind myself there's always another day.
Hope your writing works well for you tomorrow, Melissa!
Isn't that frustrating? I call those the See Spot Run days. When everything you write feels about as inspiring as See Spot. See Spot run. Or See Kelly. See Kelly write crap.
ReplyDeleteLove the pix though!