Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh
I had planned to write about battles or a humorous post about how to become a published author. Though, I still remember writing something like that second one before. Might have been on writing process. Here we have the problem though.
My mind is rather scattered and my mood is still in a state of Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. I look at the comments and posts that I want to read through. I’m trying to pull out the spark and charm, but this morning seems to be dragging. If I’m a ‘liker’ for a day or two then I apologize. I probably have to fix up what I wrote yesterday while I was in the bad mood. Nyx and friends had a climactic fight with a ghost, but right after that was a ‘I’m fine’, ‘Let’s go’, and cliffhanger. Today, I’m supposed to write a somewhat romantic scene and then back to the battle. Again, I’m fractured and avoiding the topic that is on my mind. I should be blunt.
An author, at least with fiction, is an open wound in terms of emotions. We put our hearts into our words and put it out for the world to do with as they will. So, for all our talk of thick skin and shrugging stuff off, there is always a part of us that is sensitive. I don’t want to get into reviews, but I’m making a point that an author can have a day where their mood simply plummets. It can be caused by a bad review, a personal problem, gloomy weather, or any number of things. We’re emotional processors with faulty off-switches, which is why the drunken, tortured author is such a prominent figure.
So, what does this mean for our writing when we hit these moods? You’ll see it in the words. There will be a rush to the end or mood swings from your characters. They might even seem lifeless. Take what I wrote yesterday. It was going along slowly as the characters explored the chamber and found a barrier to get through. Ghosts started causing trouble. Nyx freaked out to handle it. This is where it went downhill. There was no banter or talking afterwards. It did a swift . . . I can’t even figure out what to say about it. It wasn’t good. In fact, I might have blown by the best way to end. Dang it! Fractured thoughts.
How can you fix it? Depends on the cause, but some people simply step away from the writing until they’re settled. Others accept that a big editing job will need to be done and mark that area. Then there are the ones (Yo!) that continue writing and see what happens to the scene. This is nothing more than the childish, foolish version of the previous idea. The truth is that you have to decide by mood swing and not make a general ‘always do this’ when faced with emotional turmoil. Writing through might work for frustration, but curling up with a pint of ice cream might work better for sadness. Every emotion requires a different cure.
I will point out that we never have this problem with positive emotions. Those are what drive us while the negative ones are hindrances to a point. We still need those darker emotions to put them on the paper, so they’re definitely necessary evils or whatever you want to call them. So, an author shouldn’t cut themselves off from the darker emotions because that can have dire consequences for their writing as well. The trick is all about control and accepting that sometimes, you simply don’t have it and need to find a safe way out of the storm.
This post isn’t as insightful and informative as my typical ‘Thought’ posts are. It’s just an observation. Authors are their emotions whether they like to admit it or not. We’re sensitive and that can lead to emotional trouble without warning. That’s where I am now and I hope to push through it to finish at least 1 chapter this week.
Legends of Windemere 
I usually don’t handle that very well–I tend to look at the page for a while and then play silly games on my PC and listen to Nick Cage or Tom Waits.
However, I did go through a depressive phase for a few days recently, and I when I realized that my dialogue was coming out very flat and dreary, I decided to use it. My characters had just recovered a piece of Outsider technology that accumulates entropic potential, and I decided to put my feelings of weariness and despair deliberately into the section as a side effect of the machine.
In that one instance, I think it worked.
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It’s great when it works in your favor, right? I had a scene where I was frustrated and my character had a mental breakdown. Right in front of a demon, so the scene became more comedic. Though, it really worked out because after everything this character had gone through, it made sense that this new, demonic obstacle was the last straw.
I should take your advice and play silly games.
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Peggle has done more for my writing than Scrivener ever could.
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I’m a Solitaire man myself. Probably because I can never figure out how Hearts works.
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Reblogged this on Bastet and Sekhmet and commented:
This is a post I found important for me…thanks Charles.
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When I’m in that state of mind, I find everything I write dull and lifeless…I try to keep on, but even f no one else notices, I know it and then I could use tha pint of ice cream…as they say, it is what it is…thanks for sharing.
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You’re welcome. Thanks for commenting. I need to buy some ice cream.
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I’ve overdone it this morning…I’ll bring you some super wonderful chocolate bacio gelato and we’ll have a feast!
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Thanks. Ice cream is a great way to wake up.
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True…discovered that when I was in Jr. High School! 🙂 of course here it’s almost 2 in the afternoon…
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Good to know that it’s always 2 in the afternoon somewhere.
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yes, and my clock is right twice a day, even though the battery is dead!
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You are very right, our writing is completely changed by our moods and sometimes that is good and sometimes it is bad. This problem seems to be going around this week, I, including myself and having a hard time getting into any type of writing. Here’s hoping we all get readjusted! 🙂
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Hope so. Maybe people are getting edgy with summer hitting high gear.
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That could be, maybe we should all meet by a pool somewhere with margaritas 🙂
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Good idea. I’ll bring the notebooks and pens. Can’t have a gathering of authors without those.
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So true! I have stacks of them! Everything starts with paper and pen for me! 🙂 What a think tank that would be
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It would interesting. Though, I can see a lot of odd fights breaking out. Authors don’t always play well with others.
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Lol must be because we all have our own styles and ways of viewing the world. The best party game though would be to pass around a notebook and have one person write a paragraph and then the next add to the story and so on and so forth until the end…now that would be an amazing story to read! 🙂
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That would be incredible. Especially if everyone has different genres.
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I did it once with a friend years ago and it was fantastic! It was danger, mystery, romance, intrigue all wrapped up in magic and good versus evil. It is great fun, if you ever get a chance to do it, do it! 🙂
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I’ve done something similar with poetry, but only one-on-one. I wonder if a larger group would just be a mess.
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It might be and it would take more than an afternoon, I know the last time I did it, it lasted months, lol
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Hi Charles! You must be having a rough patch, I guess…! Hope you get the rhythm back and the letters flowing on paper! Have a good day ahead of you and I hope you write the next scenes beautifully. Thoughtful post though…yeah…there are some days…
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The letters are still flowing, but they’re coming out a little iffy. Either I ramble or I put on the brakes. I have a romantic scene to write today, which usually helps break through stuff. Then again, I could turn it into a mess if I’m not careful. Need to study my scene notes today.
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Hmm…all the best!! 😀
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Love that pic…. I call my inner editor EEYORE because he brings me down and makes me all depressed about my writing (or lack thereof as the case may be)
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Love that inner editor name. I was more a Tigger fan, but when the mood fits I have to go Eeyore.
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You’ve just described why I’ve done so little work on my novels in progress for months and why I am now also struggling with blogging.
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I’m hoping to get over this. The next two scenes for my book are a romance/lover’s spat and a big action scene.
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Maybe melancholy fits in with the lovers’ spat?
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Could be.
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I am right there with you Charles. I have been a tad dry as far as creativity goes recently. Everything that comes out of me is a bit terse, even cranky. As I write I find myself disagreeing with myself. It has taken me a while to unearth the conflict that was right in front of my face but at last I have it figured out (ex-wife stuff). I am hoping that now that I have put the “pink elephant on the table” I can start writing as me again.
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Good luck with that. The source is typically right in front of you.
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I can understand this mood. Today is like that for me. And you’re right. We give everything to our craft and need to build up our emotional reserves. I hope someone builds you up today. You’ve created such a great world and have so much to offer people through your writing.
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Thanks. I won’t be knocked down for long.
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There is NOTHING you can’t do mate. I think (Knowing you as I do) if you put your mind to it you will meet your deadlines no problem. I believe in ya, you believe in you also.
And I promise you, once I get this (REALLY SLOW TO DO) Radio show up and running, I will give you tons of exposure…
Now get writing 🙂
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Thanks. Though, I won’t be getting to my writing until tonight and I still have 6 sections to write before the weekend. Even at 2 sections a day, I’ll probably still need the weekend.
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You will get there in the end. I know deadlines (Different reasons and ways) I planned month to month, the odd month we made a mess of it, other months we did more…
I take it you are similar? Good weeks bad weeks type?
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Yeah. More good than bad. This one is abysmal.
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Next week will be better. I find with my life, pain or whatever is going on. I get shit weeks then AMAZING weeks..I am a firm believer in Karma..I believe it exists..Do good and good happens…But then I get all sore and think “Nah” 🙂 lol
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Karma is a tough one to figure out. Bad things happen to good people and the opposite. Maybe it exists, but isn’t the sole factor.
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Not a sole factor no, But what I was meaning was slightly tongue in cheek, I am a better person these days and I suffer for it. When I was a bad boy I had no pain…
Always seems nice people suffer, I see it in my family, friends and with many people on here…
….But I do agree, it isn’t the only factor in rubbish things happening
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Cheer up! Please don’t be gloomy! How about a little bit of honey? That’s what Pooh always ate. And he was a cheery little fellow.
Maybe we should all have a little honey. My weeks been going about as good as yours. First, my cat is killed, then yesterday my editor forgot to put my column in the magazine so I’m out of a paycheck this month, and today I woke up to my mom telling me that the pet chipmunk, “Scrat”, my little brother rescued last weekend, mysteriously died in the night.
What’s going on? The writer can’t write and the animal lover is losing her animals. It can only get better from here, right???
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They can’t do anything about the magazine like a double next month and an early check? Sorry to hear about your cat the chipmunk.
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Don’t know. Phone is not working and she won’t e-mail me. Maybe I’m fired? Hope to find out something soon.
Thanks Charles. Weird how that dang little critter was only around for four days, and yet we got so attached to it.
Might I suggest getting your son a goldfish? That way it wouldn’t be too hard to slip in a new one in case the first one dies.
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We’re sticking with plushies for now. A real animal wouldn’t last long with him. Also, he’s pretty good at noticing that something is even slightly different. We’d have to come very close.
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Plushies are a good idea. Hmm, how about a pet rock? I heard those were pretty popular in the 50s or 60s.
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I had a pet rock . . . it got sucked up by the vacuum and both went the way of the garbage dump.
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Oh, sorry. 😦
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To me a dry spell is an opportunity to do something different. Short story, poem or read. Amazing how it snaps back
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It isn’t really a dry spell. I’m moving slowly through what I’m writing. It just feels like somebody swooped in and diminished my will to exist.
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Oh. Well then take the night off and have a drink and dinner. Will to exist is necessary when writing.
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Done and done. Probably do the drink a second time to make sure it takes.
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yeah those drinks can be real funny sometimes
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Since you’re in an “Eeyore” type mood, I thought it would be appropriate to respond with a Pooh quote: “Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” Please feel better soon Charles 🙂
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Thanks. Love that quote.
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Our emotions and moods are crucial to our writing, but you’re right when you say that they don’t always align with what we’re working on at the moment. I’ve tried different approaches. There’s always just waiting, but that’s frustrating and not productive. Another is to switch to a different project until my mood changes. One approach that often works is to blast through the scene as quickly as possible so the ideas aren’t lost and then return later to add the correct emotions. Too, I’ve resorted to creating the needed mood, traveling to the dark place when the scene calls for it. That requires a little work and then the trick is getting back unless, of course, I was already in the dark place and needed to find the sunshine.
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I can usually pull off the blow through it approach and fix it later. This current issue is a temporary hiccup in the mental system. It’s happened before and I’ve survived.
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And this is why I don’t drink when I write… bad things happen (for this book anyway. D’s final book is another thing altogether). I completely agree with you, and one of the ways I found to cope, although it scattered my brain a bit too much, was writing scenes that fit my mood. It makes editing a treat, and what came out wasn’t always appropriate when strung together, but I did feel like I was making progress. Here’s hoping your emotional reserves and will to go on improve! Hang in there!
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This is a very insightful thought post if you ask me, which you didn’t-I know. I must remember this when writing and posting too. There’s been a bit of mood talk around the place today and it’s definitely got me thinking.
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I noticed that. People seem to be talking about either feeling down or feeling in love. Doesn’t this usually happen in spring?
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Can the love be attributed to the storyboard?
I’m yet to leave my heart there. How do I do that, btw?
Hope your molasses has thinned.
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I’ve seen it pop up in a few places, but the storyboard probably sparked it all.
Do you posting access or do you need to submit? I can post the poem with an associated picture on your behalf if you want.
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I’m not sure. I’ve not done one yet.
Will check and let you know.
Thanks for offering.
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You’re welcome. It’s part of my job. Ionia would punish me with squirrels if I didn’t make the offer.
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Or make you pay in cupcakes.
I don’t have access. It doesn’t have to be a poem does it? That is not my strong suit.
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It can be anything. We accept all forms of submissions. Even smoke signal if you tape it and send us the video.
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:-0 0 0 0 0 Puff the magic dragon
When’s the cut off for this week’s topic of Lurv?
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Let’s see . . . I think whenever. There’s no real deadline on these things as far as I can tell.
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I’ll work on something? over the next two days.
Geez the pressure, when it’s about love.
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They always go hand in hand.
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I’m always thinking about how awesome it is to read about thought processes while writing (because while there may be similarities, no two people write the same way or use the same methods), but I honestly can’t say that I’ve read a single thing on here about writing through moods.
Sometimes there really are THOSE days. Sometimes it helps it your writing, sometimes it doesn’t.
But you’re totally right. We have to take the good with the bad, doing this. In my experience, sometimes the bad can make the good better than it ever could have been without it. Do you know what I mean?
Sorry for all the ‘sometimes’. I tend to do that.
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Everyone has a few words they use a lot. I say basically and honestly a lot.
The bad can definitely make the good better. I’ve always though you need the bad to really appreciate the good.
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