Keep your spirits up

[altariel]

I've been feeling despondent about work all day, because after last week's cold-hiatus I haven't been able to pull my concentration together all week, and then I started to get locked into that whole stupid mindset I have about how this is just typical of my inability to bring anything substantial to completion. Then I decided that panicking myself into a cycle of self-loathing was a really rubbish idea, and that often these periods of agitated downtime precede a burst of creativity, so I stopped trying to write the thing that manifestly didn't want to be written, and I wrote something different which was short but gave me some clarity about backstory.

Then I had a ham and tomato sandwich and listened to the Scissor Sisters tell me that while their hearts might well be cold and hard and petrified, everybody nevertheless wants the same thing which turns out to be love. Hurray! Then I put aside the current project and reread the chunk from the other project wot I wrote in the US last summer, and I decided it was an awful lot better than I remembered and might be quite good if it got finished. Then I went and had a shower and treated the bathroom to a medley of alto-range hits starting with Tippett's version of Deep River and ending, via a number of Aimee Mann songs, with Trouble in the Fields and Fairport's Come All Ye as an encore. Ah, the healing powers of ham, hot water and song. Next this evening: Jericho.

Comments

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Well done, you! :)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

:-)

[thanatos-kalos.livejournal.com]

um...I've never seen Jericho, but from what I'm told, using that series to cheer oneself up will likely yield the same results as watching Caves of Androzani to relax...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's quite heartwarming in its own way!

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

Hail the power of ham, hot water and song! Go you for stomping on the bad mindset.

And you wrote and there was clarity and that is good.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

There's been a rather nice spaghetti bolognese since too.

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

Ah Deep River... Well done you!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

:-) Excellent icon!

[gauroth.livejournal.com]

Singing is so cathartic. I sing Handel in the bath because the acoustics are so good. My family hammers on the door complaining, but I don't care because the door is locked. Mwahahahaha!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Good on you! I like the echoes I get from the shower cubicle, particularly when I pitch my voice really deep!

[raspberryfool.livejournal.com]

Doesn't the tomato have restorative powers too? If it feels left out, it may become jealous plot revenge. Never underestimate a jealous tomato. We can imagine the conversation thus:

Ham: I have restorative powers! I am Super-Ham!

Tomato: Oy - we're a team. I have lycopene.

Ham: You were incidental.

Tomato: Uncidental? That'll look good on my gravestone!

[raspberryfool.livejournal.com]

Hey i've invented a new word - Uncidental. Keyboard can't spell. :-)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Tomato: Oy - we're a team. I have lycopene.

LOL!

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

There is very little wrong in life that can't be put right by a ham and tomato sandwich!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

And today there will be the healing powers of a bacon sandwich, yum!

[tyellas.livejournal.com]

Then I decided that panicking myself into a cycle of self-loathing was a really rubbish idea, and that often these periods of agitated downtime precede a burst of creativity, so I stopped trying to write the thing that manifestly didn't want to be written, and I wrote something different which was short but gave me some clarity about backstory.

Between this and the ham sandwich, you sound like a Terry Pratchett heroine. Go you!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have always wanted to be Granny Weatherwax when I grow up!

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

Hooray for knowing oneself and sandwiches!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

A winning combination! :-D

[ex-naomi-ja.livejournal.com]

Your first paragraph sounds exactly like me. I never get quite as far as paragraph two though. Maybe I need to eat more ham?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Speaking for myself, it took a year of psychotherapy and an awful lot of ham or bacon sandwiches to get to that second paragraph.

[the-wild-iris.livejournal.com]

Here with a loaf of bread beneath the bough,
A slice of ham, a to-mah-to, and thou
Beside me singing in the shower room -
And anything is fixable enow.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

:-D

[fallingtowers.livejournal.com]

Isn't Jericho a show about the survivors of a nuclear war in small-town America? I think it is somehow twee and heart-warming that you consider it as means of relaxation.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's the one. As I said upthread to thanatos_kalos, it is indeed a surprisingly heartwarming programme. Last night's episode was all about Thanksgiving. Growing up with British telly makes you tough ;-D

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

reread the chunk from the other project wot I wrote in the US last summer, and I decided it was an awful lot better than I remembered and might be quite good if it got finished

Obviously I don't have very much to look back on, but when I do I'm often quite surprised: "Golly, I wrote this?" I know Test batsmen are encouraged to think back to their best innings to psych themselves up for the next one, so revisiting past triumphs must be a good strategy.

So I look forward to the results of the new burst of creativity. Actually, I'm currently looking forward to the results of a previous burst of creativity, which I think I'm expecting in May?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I reread stuff quite a lot in order to remind me that I really can produce decent sentences.

I'm currently looking forward to the results of a previous burst of creativity, which I think I'm expecting in May?

You know, it took me a bit to remember what this was! Yes, sometime in May, I hope!

[scottpearson.livejournal.com]

Wow, that first paragraph is exactly how I've been this week, as you may have noticed in a couple of my posts . . . although I haven't quite shaken it off yet.

I'd try your cure, but I don't like tomatoes. Do you think it would work with a ham and swiss cheese sandwich?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Ooh, a ham and swiss cheese sandwich sounds most tasty! The singing in the shower was the real cheerer, though.

[(Anonymous)]

then I started to get locked into that whole stupid mindset I have about how this is just typical of my inability to bring anything substantial to completion.

Much, much sympathy, and thanks for the diagnosis - I'm kind of feeling that at the moment myself and you put it in precisely the right terms.

I hope you're feeling substantially less 'stuck' where your writing is concerned!

Dwim

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Is this thesis-related? Occasionally I feel like I've replaced the massive thesis-shaped hole in my life with what seems yet another huge, nebulous, and only loosely thought-through project!

Apart from being interrupted in my flow, the big problem for me recently has been decision-making: Not just, "What shall I work on?" but also "What decisions do I need to make about character/setting/scope before I can work on this?" Basically, I should have outlined better. Oh well, you live and learn.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Ah, the healing powers of ham, hot water and song.

Inside every elf queen there's a hobbit struggling for freedom ;) More seriously, several books on my shelves prove your ability to bring substantial projects to completion.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Inside every elf queen there's a hobbit struggling for freedom ;)

Hee!

And thank you for the vote of confidence :-)

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I see that I'm very late to the commenting party for this post. Without reading the 41 that precede mine, I'd just like to say that this is among the very best posts I've seen on any blog anywhere about the dual and often-paired subjects of dark mental states and writer's block.

Isn't it a wonderful feeling to go back to something you've written earlier and find that it's better than you thought?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this. Dark mental states and writer's block, yes, two things I do feel qualified to write about *wry smile*

It felt great to go back to the previously written material. I was the project to which I devoted my time whilst out in Wake Forest, and I hadn't really looked at it since the end of last year. I'd thought it was in a much worse state than it was, but that turned out to be a memory of long since rewritten sections. I'd like to get back to this project this summer.

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

Yay Jericho!

Yay comforting apocalypse!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yay indeed! Gosh, it's an interesting programme. I wonder how plausible it is that they would be hardly worried about fallout? After that initial rain storm, I mean. And a lot of the drama is really domestic: someone having an affair, someone thinking about their wedding day... It really touches me that the world ends and almost the first thing they do is hold an election. As if what's happened hasn't quite dawned on them yet.