"In the Mood"

If you ever have occasion to read or see an interview with an active writer, whether published or not, one thing seems fairly consistent with them all. They write every day. It is frequently the main advice that those writers give to neophyte writers. Write every day! Often authors describe their work ethic pretty much like that of any other job: get up, have breakfast, write until noon, eat lunch, write until quitting time. Next day, do it again! I admire that. I really do.

It must be somewhat of a yardstick for determining whether or not writing is truly your calling. Write every day. Write something every day. That's a LOT of writing. I would assume that "writing" would include editing, re-writes, scratching out and starting over. It would be just too mind numbing and intimidating to think that anyone could just sit down, put down words for 8 hours every day, and use everything that was written each and every day. If that is true for anyone, I just don't want to know!

For me, I cannot do it. No matter how hard I try, I cannot force myself to write! If I try, all I end up with is unusable, stilted, pedantic, garbage that doesn't even come close to saying what I intended to say! Whether I am writing a business letter, a journal entry, a book report for 8th grade, a Master's thesis, the great American novel, or just a plain ole blog makes no difference. Some days I can write and other days I cannot. Its as simple as that.

On days when I can write, the words and thoughts fly out of my brain faster than I can type them on the screen. I hardly even have to do much editing. Once it starts, I write like the wind. It comes when it comes and when its gone, its gone. Its a great feeling, but I just have no control over it.


So, this is my apology for the time gaps that I'm certain will appear here regularly. Its not that I forget, or I get too busy (usually), or any other good excuse. For me, writing all depends on whether or not I'm "In the Mood", and if I'm not, well, there's just no point in even trying. I just have to trust that the mood will come again. It hasn't let me down yet.