brain on strike

[tempestsarekind]

My brain always, always does this when we start nearing the end of the semester: it just--balks, and won't do anything of use. How many things did I have to do yesterday? A LOT. What did I do instead? Watched the last three episodes of S3 Slings & Arrows. Again. (And I teared up at the Bolivians, with their metal sheets and rain sticks making up

Comments

Pep talk

[viomisehunt]

I work at my "craft". Don't let any false modesty keep you from practicing, developing, polishing your CRAFT.
Whether your craft is percieved as art or not: that is in the Eye of the Beholder. You'll never find out if you are an artist or a craftsperson if you give up on a project.

Take a day off, a month off if you need it, then start fresh.

I make a terrible working "artist" as I'm rubbish at working seriously on my craft without the treat of a deadline. Don't know if I could, like Jo Rowlings, push a pram to the coffee shop every day and just write. For one thing, I'd probably go to coffee shop at the book store; I'd probably take my lap top, and I'd probably do all those other things I usually do instead of focusing on my art...you get my drift?

Ahhh-- I wonder if those "How Clean Is your House" ladies have advice for organizing the busy, wondering brain....(Wink)

Re: Pep talk

[tempestsarekind]

Heh. I could use someone to come in and clean out/reorganize my brain! If only...

Thanks for the pep talk; I appreciate it! It's hard to find time to write, because of grad school--which is why I put more pressure on those few occasions when I do find time, probably. If I had more free time to practice writing, I probably wouldn't get so dejected when I had an off day.

And yes, I am ace at finding distractions! Though I've never really been able to write in public spaces anyway; I'm envious of people who can go to coffee shops and write (or grade papers, for that matter).

[significantowl]

oh, I hear you! I need someone to kick me to get back to writing original like I should. (hm, maybe we should pick a week, have a kickathon? see just how much art we can create?)

(or, you know, loll about and read anon memes instead. WHY DO I KEEP DOING THIS WHY WHY.)

[tempestsarekind]

Hmm, a kickathon. I rather like that idea! (Provided that I don't freak out and clam up even more, which is always a possibility with me. But no, I think it's a good idea all the same.)

Anon memes scare me slightly. Instead I've been looking at people's tumblr accounts, which eats time.

[significantowl]

No clamming allowed! The lower key the better, probably? Just us or us + PoT girls?

I knooooow, they are horrible places. But so trainwrecky! And then the other day someone recced something of mine on there, so now of course I can't look away!

[tempestsarekind]

Either way works for me--do you have a preference? (I'm not entirely sure what happens in a kickathon, so I defer to you.) But in either case, low keys are good keys, yes. :)

[gileonnen]

This thing you say? It is so true for me. Ugh.

I do think you have the ability to create truly amazing art--sensitive, informed, and infused with all of the love that wells in you when you speak of beautiful things.

I also think I'll try to get my hands on this book.

[tempestsarekind]

I don't know about yours, but my brain is very silly. Clearly, it would make much more sense to do the things I have to do, and then take a proper break. But no. Instead, anything that looks like work just slides off the surface.

Thank you! I just don't know, which is the frustrating part: there are days when I think, "I could write a novel someday," and days when I think that it's completely impossible and I should stop inflicting my dreadful writing on the world, and stop setting myself up for heartbreak into the bargain. And I don't know which voice to listen to.

The cover of Those Who Hunt the Night is ridiculously awful! And the book has maybe a touch more description than I tend to like (for some reason it yanks me out of a story when someone tells me the same things about a person's appearance too often). But the hero confirms his suspicions that he's talking to a vampire by pinpointing the sixteenth-century elements of his accent, so clearly I had no choice. :)

[valancy_s]

THIS. RIGHT NOW. ME TOO.

Sorry, the strength of my commiseration required capslocks. O seminar papers due so soon, why am I on LJ instead of writing you?

[tempestsarekind]

Capslock is a time-honored tradition, especially around these parts!

Good luck with your seminar papers! I have a dissertation chapter supposedly due in May, but I can't seem to think that far ahead, with teaching and grading still in the way.