A Depressed Writer Day

 

A Big Shout-Out

Today was a weird day for me, writing and “In Real Life”. But before I get to that gunk, I want to do a big, joyous, arm-flinging SHOUT OUT!!

To my wonderful, new, shiny and squiggly 39 new followers…I wish I could do a shout-out post for all of you. Alas, The Artist’s Way takes up a lot of my time, brain power, and procrastination power, so…I can’t.

But to all of you, you know who you are – thank you! (haha, flashback to recent Oscar season, right?) I wanted to bring the spotlight to a couple of you.

Spotlight on Friends

Zeina of Poem and Dish

Poem and Dish (love the name – what does it mean?) is a beautiful and heartfelt home for the poetry of Zeina, an Australian woman whose mother was a genius cook and who pours her heart into her poems. I know all of that might sound super cliche, but trust me. This time it is not. It is truth, fact.

Zeina really does put her emotions, her life, into her poetry. She shares herself. This is why I really love her WordPress site. Her poems make me go “wow” for real. They make me pause to think. They make me cry, and laugh. Best of all, they make me want to pick up my pen and get back into poetry writing (preferably with a glossy, cute new little notebook).

You really should go check out some of her poetry on her WordPress, especially if you are any kind of poet, yourself.

Freda of Fredabiddie

Freda’s WordPress site has an array of extremely varied topics. The focus that connects them all is that she is writing her truth. This is something I’ve touched on in previous posts, and I really like how Freda does it. Her writing may be nonfiction, but the same fact remains, in my opinion: to the amount that you put your truth into your writing, to that amount the writing is good and will affect your readers.

Freda’s blog is extremely personal. She shares her trials and triumphs relating to depression, anxiety, motherhood, friendship, and other things that come up. Her posts, for me, read like a blend of journal entry and story. She really knows how to pull you into a scene. It’s amazing, and reading her blog reminds me that I need to pull my readers into my stories. Her blog makes me want to write better books.

That’s all for now! I hope to do more shout-out type posts in the future.

As for today…

My Weird Day

Sometimes a gal just can’t get her writing done. Today that day was me. But at least I am here, blogging, right? I think it is helpful.

Recently I began becoming a cafe writer. I spent 4 hours in a row a few days of last week and this week, working on my story. I scribbled down new ideas. I completed a very difficult chapter in my revision that I had been struggling with. I felt sooo happy!!

And then…zippppppp…quietly….slowly…that happiness drifted, that inspiration drifted. I’m left with the next chapter, not knowing what to do. Should I revise it, or keep the events of the rough draft version? Should I plot my chapter scene by scene?

I started reading this article by Holly Lisle, whose website I extremely recommend. But halfway through I felt even more overwhelmed and just stopped reading it. Plotting out my chapter scene-by-scene feels so tedious. So analytical. It’s not that I decry it like some writers do, it’s just…I’m afraid of it. I don’t know how to start. It feels like a math problem that will soon have me crying under the table while my mother tries to help me (this happened to me, once).

So, instead of facing all those questions, I remembered Julia Cameron’s advice from The Artist’s Way about the Artist’s Date. Make it fun, she says. Make it freeing.

So I took my little furry buddy, a red fox plushie named Mango (since I don’t have a *real* furry friend, yet), and went across the street to a delightful and horribly expensive knick knack shop called Paddiwhack. I perused about half the shop and alit on a couple affordable little doo-dads.

When it’s morning, I can upload pictures for you, but for now I’ll describe them:

1. A mermaid in some silvery metal, with blue tail, whose card says she will give you strength and courage throughout your day
2. A heart metal token, small and thumb-tip sized, that says, “Open your heart to all possibilities”.

These two little tokens I am now determined to carry around in my pocket(s). I believe in carrying little items, or talismans if you would, around. I find that they actually do help me to de-stress. The first one I ever tried was this jasper-type rock that I won for free at a gem and rock convention with my dad. It has a little thumb-tip-shaped groove on the bottom and I like to rub it, like a stress ball or a worry stone.

Anyway, that was my artist’s date today. And it was fun. I did feel the anxiety and stresses of the day leave me. The weird grumpiness that made me argue with my best friend and gave me a headache, left. The sadness left.

And tomorrow is another day!

Soon, I will post another part of my The Artist’s Way series. Until then,

Chaitanya