Of Swings and Solutions

You would probably recall that I talk about how I try to post within my three day cycle; keeping a regular schedule shouldn’t be a problem, because ideas are not hard to come by for me, and I also happened to have a list of topics ready to choose from.

Strangely enough, with all those fancy rules of mine, you would also notice the delays between my posts of late. Odd for me to call attention to it myself, I know… but I’m blowing the whistle. Yes, on myself.

Three day cycles turning into four, and five… I haven’t been up to my usual standard, obviously. And this worries me, because I have the annoying tendency to not be able to stick to things for very long before getting tired of them.

I managed to get bored of movies and serials for about a month. True story. This happened to be the same month in which I did not have any new books to read, either. Needless to say, that was one awful time in my life. (shudder)

Back to the point…. I am slacking. I know exactly why I am. And worse, I know exactly what I can do to get over it.

Why am I not writing? Simple reason….

I don’t want to.

 The fact of the matter, I am simply not in The Mood to write these days. Without The Mood, I cannot write. I assume you know very well how it can be. A major annoyance? An understatement.

This is even more of a bummer since the Iron Writer quarterly tournament is here, and I have already been given my elements. Since this is a tournament, I will be facing off against sixteen other writers, and I want to bring my A Game on; but at a time like this, I’m not sure how well I will be able to perform… especially when I’m not even able to bring myself to write a measly blog post.

But first things first; a post is due. But out of all the interesting topics I had in hand to write about, none struck me with enough inspiration to begin an 800 word plus rant on.

So I thought to myself; if I can’t find the mood to write about anything, why don’t I just write about The Mood itself? 

So, here I am. The Mood. Basically, one of the most important things that ever affected my writing.

Coming up with ideas, dreaming up plots; that’s my specialty. But the problem I have, the bane of my gift, so to speak, has to do with whether or not I can get pen to paper at any given instance. Or, well, fingers to keyboard, whichever you prefer.

It’s not enough to have a great idea; you should be able to write it. Sure, ghostwriters are out there, but no one can write the way you write; no one can see you characters the way you see them. But I simply can not write if I am not in the mood to write. Call it amateurish, call it whatever you like; it’s how I am and it’s something that I have to work on. Okay, fine, work very hard on.

When my writing mood comes in, there’s nothing short of an earthquake, tsunami, a blackout or my angry mother that can keep me from filling those pages with drivel. It doesn’t last; but while it’s there, it’s unstoppable.

But when it isn’t there… it isn’t.

Like anything else, your writing mood is influenced by other, outside forces. 

The prospect of success plays a role. There’s really nothing like a bit of motivation and a gleam of the pot at the end of the rainbow to get make you get ahead and start writing.

When I first began this blog, I was so pumped up, I had my first five posts written and ready by the second day. I took pride in scheduling them out days in advance, letting them all fall into the perfect cycle. Unfortunately, back then, I still hadn’t settled into my groove, and those first ones are best ignored.

Now, I have come far enough down the road to have a legitimate ‘back then’; maybe I like what I churn up these days better, but I am certainly not as productive as I was back then. Has the thrill worn off? Have I gotten bored of this already?

If you’re finding that you are losing the mood to do what you do, be it writing, painting, gardening, whatever… think back to the original reason why you began, and what you hoped to gain from it. If it’s worthwhile, it should be enough to get you back on track. Hopefully, you’re not as bullheadedly stubborn as I am… 

The distractions around you... that's another big one.

Obviously; a lot of the reason I don’t feel like writing is that I have too many other things to do with my laptop. There’s Whitecollar, Suits, Supernatural, and whole bunch of other stuff, countless episodes to keep me entertained. Not to mention Facebook, Google Plus, a smidgen of Twitter, along with all the articles and trailers and videos out there that never stop beckoning.

What do you expect me to say, get rid of distractions? Hell, no, like that would ever happen. The distractions affect your mood. Sometimes, it can be in a good way, and other times, not. For example, I’m writing this post right now in between watching episodes of Suits. In my current frame of mind, there is no way I can keep at this without break.

Use distractions to your advantage whenever possible. If possible.

When The Mood hits you… thank God, and make use of it. It doesn’t matter how many typos you make, how sure you are whether or not the passage you are working will even make it into the manuscript, or that you need to edit it later on… just write, and be grateful for it.

But when you’re not in The Mood, like me, you need to get back into it before you start spiraling out of control, the way I’m on the brink of doing. Question of the moment, then… what can you do to get back The Mood?

There’s just the one cure that I have found, I’m afraid. It happens to be the very same cure to my other bane, The Block.

That’s right.

Start writing.

Get into it the story, into your character’s head. See the action, see the plot unfold. Feel the emotion, the power, the rush as it begins to build up. And if you don’t like the bit where you are stuck on right now, just skip ahead and do another part further ahead, a part that you want to do.

Just start writing again, and you will get the feeling back. You will, without a doubt recreate The Mood, and in doing so, again remember why you began writing in the first place.

Don’t take my word for it. Try it out.

Believe it or not, I think I just got back my own Mood.