Sunday, October 4, 2009

Creativity = Barren Desert Landscape


I have to be honest here.

I have nothing.

I've been working overtime, trying to write on my current WIP with a vague deadline, and dealing with financial issues at home. I'm driving to Los Angeles for a book fair in West Hollywood, requiring me to get up at 4am Sunday morning to get there in time. Saturday (I'm working backwards in time here) I'm hosting a Sisters in Crime Nor Cal meeting at my house with guest speaker Nathan Bransford, so have been shopping for refreshments and making sure the house is in order. I'm quite tired. I'm creatively drained. Writing is difficult. Writing a blog post feels like trying to extract water from the desert during the dry season.

How do you all do it? When you're so busy/tired/stressed that life feels like it's battering you to pieces on a daily basis... how do you find the creative energy to write?

Inquiring minds REALLY want to know.

3 comments:

Jean Henry Mead said...

I guess I'm lucky to have a jouralism background. You just sit down at the computer, pick up a newspaper or magazine to find a subject and start writing. Sort of like on automatic pilot. I'm not sure how many articles I've done while sleep writing. :)

Morgan Mandel said...

If I don't have time to write fiction, I don't do it. I usually still have time to do some kind of blog, although this week between my cold, vacation and a book signing, I've missed a few days here and there.

Usually, I'm writing each day in one way or another.

That picture is amazing, by the way.

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
http://www.morganmandel.com

Dana Fredsti said...

It frustrates me because I still have lots of ideas, but when I'm exhausted I just can't summon the energy to try and write. And I USED to use writing as an escape!

Morgan, I typed in 'barren landscape' into Google Images and that popped up! :-)