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Sometimes, I have trouble saying what I mean. I either fumble my words or go into a meandering stream of “likes” and “you know’s” as I float toward what it is I meant to say.
Usually, I’m at my fumbliest when I lack proper sleep and rest. You can imagine how bumbly I was at the height of the holiday season when sleep was at its lowest and the people interactions were at its highest. It’s like my mouth was falling down the stairs.
All that to say…
This past week was more challenging than usual in terms of writing. I know this may be contrary to say, but it’s like I had too many words. I wanted to address so many things in my Work In Progress (aka, The Hot Mess) that the words got clogged somewhere in the assembly line that starts with my brain elves tinkering with ideas, and then shooting those ideas down through my fingers to become inked words on paper.
Most of the time, a morning session of stream of consciousness writing can get me to push past that clog and get the assembly line back in working order. This time, though, was the first time in a long time that I found I had nothing to say.
I tried writing on my laptop. I tried scribbling in my notebook. I tried writing in different environments. I even tried writing other things, like new pages for my blog.
Nothing.
The malaise in writing culminated to yesterday, when I had the day off to catch up on my writing, a habit I adopted from my NaNoWriMo days. The only thing I seemed to have words for were crits for my friend, WookiesGirl. Though I had plenty of comments in my crits for her, I could barely write the email that went along with those crits. (I also owe Melissa an email about my WIP.)
Then, I encountered this post and just shook my head.
I was so focused on getting something for my WIP that I forgot the very reason why I started Novel-writing in the first place: to have fum.
Sure, I have goals, and I like to achieve them. But the reason why I started my goal was the fun and joy of writing and creating new worlds and characters. I enjoyed the challenge of it.
However, I became so focused on it, that I didn’t give my brain elves random things to work with. Heck, I didn’t even give them time to rest and recharge.
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter and the sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.-Kahlil Gibran
So, yesterday, I read without guilt. I tweeted without guilt. I watched Firefly and Avatar: The Last Airbender, Book 2. I had dinner with my husband, and laughed at how awesome we are.
And, when I got to my desk this morning, a torrent of words splashed on to the page. I couldn’t scribble fast enough.
So, Tell Me: How do you revive your muse?
Liza Kane 