Somedays the creative urge, the storytelling impulse, the need to write, just goes away. I misplaced it the other day, just when I wanted it most.
I looked in all the drawers in my home office, through the neglected piles of junk and stuff I should have thrown away long ago. I looked out in the garage and all through the house, but when I sat down to write, it was still missing.
The day before I looked everywhere (I thought) for a sleeve of AA batteries, couldn’t find it anywhere, and then while looking for my creative impulse, I moved a box from in front of a drawer, opened the drawer, and there were the batteries. I figure maybe the Muse is waiting in another forgotten drawer somewhere, waiting for me to push a box aside and rediscover the drawer.
At least I found enough of a spark to write to write these few paragraphs about misplacing it. And there is a tiny bit of light in an otherwise dark and frustrating situation. This Resistance thing is real; they say even the most successful writers grapple with it, but knowing it’s a common malady doesn’t make it any less real. It’s why I have three unfinished novels to work on during National Novel Writing Month. It’s why after I announced I have those plus three other novels in the works five days ago, I have averaged fewer than 100 novel words a day since.
Is it enough to shout at the heart of the universe, “Damn you, Resistance! I’m going to write. Here is my 462nd consecutive blog post. You may hijack my novels but the blog continues.” Is that a victory of its own?
Or does the Resistance twirl its Snidely Whiplash mustache and chuckle, “I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little blog, too!”?
A hand is raised in the small classroom.
“You just mixed a Dudley Do-Right reference with the Wizard of Oz,” a timid soul said. “The Wicked Witch of the West doesn’t have a Snidely Whiplash mustache.”
I can’t argue with that, so I surrender for the night, eager to resume the battle in the morning. In the meantime, here’s a puppy picture.
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W.B.’s NaNoWriMo progress report – as of midnight Nov. 5
Novel 1 – 15 new words, 51.3% to 40k goal
Novel 2 – 40% to 40k goal
Plan for end of 2021 – in progress
Plan for 2022 – in development