On the Periphery

Things change. Life throws us curves and changeups. It's good to have a place to vent.

Friday, December 08, 2006

I don’t get writer’s block, but still, I am not getting any writing done: I’ve got the hazy lazies: feeling enervated, wanting to do anything that doesn’t involve actual thinking.

Oh, I do check my email fifty times a day, and I have sent out scads of job applications. I even sent a story in to a magazine. But it’s just so tempting to put off writing in favor of checking the various news sites, sending emails to friends, doing crossword puzzles, or comforting my poor puppy (a 9-year-old cocker I inherited last year) who just had surgery and has to wear one of those outrageous plastic funnels. (They are useful, though. He shovels snow very well.)

When I had a job and was caring for children, I always thought when I had time to write I would be the most prolific writer ever. Well, the kids are grown, I’m out of work with lots of free time, (not much going on in the substitute teaching department) and I still am not getting anything done. I seem to find other things to take me away from writing: laundry, knitting, making and wrapping gifts. (Who said you need money to shop? I am very creative.)

I have tons to write, and once I get started, I go like mad—it’s the getting started that’s hard. But maybe the hazy lazies aren’t so bad. Ooo, there’s a neat video clip on the MSNBC site! That video clip might spark the idea for a short story. Hmmm, think I’ll Google some of my old co-workers from 30 years ago. Maybe I could get a movie script or TV pilot out of my memories of that job. I’m going to memorize a city map of New York. If I write a story that takes place in New York, I could create an authentic-sounding setting. What’s the latest theory on the extinction of the dinosaurs? I could fashion a poem relating my life with that of the dinosaurs. A true writer uses everything: nothing is wasted, even “wasted” days of non-writing.

The hazy lazies. I need a cookie. Or a pie. Maybe I should bake. Better I should go do some yoga. Or clean the family room before the family descends for Christmas. Or . . .

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