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One of the things I’m most often asked is how do I keep the productivity and the quality of the ideas so constant. Well, I thought today was a good day to show how you work through a bad day. If you’ve read the first two blogs of today you know the spider crisis has upped it’s anty. I also had allergy shots today; three shots every time I hit the door. Not my favorite thing. Then I had a second appointment in the early afternoon. My schedule was in tatters.
But the Jason book is going really well, and I know from past experience that if I take even a whole day off when the book is at this heat, that it will cool, then I’ll spend days struggling to get back to where I am right now. So, I had to work today. God, I did not want to work, but I knew I’d regret it tomorrow if I didn’t. So, how do you work when you don’t want to? How do you write when you feel totally uninspired? How can you be creative when all you can think of is the mundane crap that has drowned your day?
First you have to go to your desk, put your butt in a chair, and try. You have to write first. Put your fingers on the keyboard and type. I was lucky this time I knew exactly the scene that I was doing, and the characters in that scene. Another plus was that it was neither a sex scene, nor a fight scene. Both of those are harder for me on days when the muse is not happy. Okay, sitting down, trying to type, now music. I have my ipod with it’s music line up. Admittedly, today music that normally works for Anita, had me hitting the remote and passing up song after song. Somewhere between Seether and Strata the music started to work. Or, I started to work, and the music no longer irritated, but helped oil the gears as it’s meant to do.
I also chose one of the cups we bought on our last trip to Disney World to drink tea out of. The cup is something that reminds me of a very relaxing day, where there was no pressure, and I needed to remember a day like that. I highly recommend that you have a few things in your office that remind you of relaxing moments. Whatever that means to you, so that on days when the pressure is freaking high, so high you feel buried in it, you can touch that object and go, ahh, I remember what it’s like not to feel this tense. Some people call them comfort objects but it’s more than that for me. It’s literally that touching that piece of china, or whatever, brings back that memory. With the memory comes the peace, or joy, or happiness, that I associate with the memory, and I am back in that moment. It’s not perfect. It’s not exactly that moment, but it’s a shadow of it, and a shadow of joy is enough sometimes to get you going again. By the way, don’t let anyone talk you out of your object of joy. It doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but you and your muse. In your imaginary world it’s all about what works for the inside of your head, don’t criticize it, embrace it. There is almost nowhere on the planet that you are more yourself than in that special piece of yourself where you create. Don’t cheat yourself, enjoy it.
I hope this helps those of you who are struggling with your own avalanche of mundane problems, and helps get you to that happy place where the muse is waiting. She really is waiting; you just have to meet her half way.