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Blogs by Pamela C Labud
Rainy days and Mondays 10/25/2005 9:40:29 AM
What to do when the weather is bad and your creative energy is waning... Hello gentle readers!
I'm back again, trying to get into the writer mode before it's time to pick the kids up from school. It's been a busy Monday--oh, excuse me, Tuesday so far. (I say that because like millions of other Floridians I too had a hurricane day yesterday.) Yep. Lots of wind and rain, dark skies, and grumpy kids who didn't get to go to school and lamented that they were bored for hours. Bummer.
I did do a bit of writing in the early morning, mostly because no one was up and my husband was trapped at work for two days during the storm. I was thankful to be not at work since for once in the last 6 or so hurricanes Wilma was kind enough not to show her face until Monday morning. Anyway, I was virtually trapped. No librarys were open, no stores, and even worse, they just didn't want people out on the roads, (a philosophy I agree with, btw). Anyway, there I was, stuck with the kids.
Nothing can drain your creative energy like being stuck in the house with scads of time on your hands. For me, who's always lamenting about not having enough time, it's a virtual death knell. I have time, therefore I must write, and under that kind of pressure, I can't always produce. Nada. Not a single page.
So, I attacked the problem from a different angle. I gave myself permission to have some time off. Not the whole day mind you, just in the afternoon/evening hours.
How do you do this? You set yourself down and say, "Take the time, you've earned it."
Now, it's not as easy as it sounds. My muse, the part of me that is totally screaming that I must work, work, work, does not settle that easy. So, I made a deal with her, half a day's work for half a day's play.
I advise anyone interested to try this. I told myself I would work half the day, unti noon on writing. Not editing or revising. I would write, freewrite, typing whatever comes to mind. That worked. I managed 10 pages and advanced my work in progress another half chapter or so. Good.
Then, I used my off time for writing, too. Sort of. I gave myself permission to take an artist's day. I spend my artist's day camped in front of the dvd and watched movies. Yep. That's it. I recharged my creative energy by taking the stress off of myself. I didn't do laundry or dishes. I threw a simple meal in the crock pot to feed my family, and then just kicked back. End result?
Today I am recharged. I've cleaned my kitchen, made two caseroles for the family, started the laundry, caught up on my email, and now I'm going to write for two wonderful, blissful hours. Yay me!
Not only that, but if you choose the same path, I advise you to watch your movies, or read novels, or whatever you do and point part of your mind to how you might use it for your writing. I watched Erin Brockovich and Joy Ride. Two vastly different movies, yes, but I watched them and mentally noted each one's story structure and characterization. Of course at the same time, I totally enjoyed them, (one was an huge award winner, the other was not but still fun in a 'not too scary but gross sort of way).
In other words, give your artist's time a double task. Entertainment for you and also ideas for your stories. It really works for me.
Now, off to work on my option book. Everyone have a great week. Happy Reading! Pam.
