Good Writerly Days . . . and Bad Ones
10 Aug, 2011 | What's happening in my writing life
I had one of those ‘blaa!!!!’ writing days yesterday. I know all writers have them, I certainly do occasionally, but yesterday’s was totally unexpected.
I’ve been complaining lately about not having the house to myself, there seem to always be bodies coming and going, noise, interruptions, ‘too loud’ music or television blaring and, from the young adults – ‘Mum, can you help me with, etc. etc.’
Yesterday though, the house was quiet, not a soul about, a gentle rain was melting into the cypresses and blue gums (which usually inspires me) although the dampness forced me back from my walk because I forgot to take a rain jacket. So I resigned myself to the fact that I was just plain grumpy, the good words weren’t going to come or behave themselves, so I decided to write about that.
I was thinking back to when I used to work in an office environment. I remember one work colleague walking past my office on her way in, often sprouting, ‘Today, I could kick a chook off a fence!’ Through the years that image often comes flooding back at me and never fails to bring a smile.
Don’t get me wrong, I love all animals (the proof is there because I always write about them) and I quite like chooks, but the image of my friend and colleague kicking a defenceless chook and sending it flying, feathers scattering and showering everywhere, is something embedded in my memory forever.
So yesterday was not a good writerly day and I did feel like kicking a chook off a fence (of course I didn’t). I could have cleaned the oven, sorted 5 years worth of photographs or tackled the scary ironing basket – but I didn’t, because as I was saying to a group of school children last week, I believe the most useful quality a writer can possess is persistence, that determination and will to press on, even if the day or week isn’t panning out as it should.
My words yesterday weren’t wonderful, but at least there were some and I avoided all those not so delightful tasks above.
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