Deadlines + Authority Issues = Terrible Writer’s Block.
Actually, it’s more of an ennui. I have things to write about, things I’d like to say, incidents that I think would make interesting and entertaining blog posts, but I just don’t feel like writing them. I mean, I want to write them. But I don’t.
I have a confession to make: I hate NaBloPoMo.
The idea that I have to post is just sucking all the joy out of the experience for me. Before it started, I was posting nearly every day anyway, and doing it gleefully. Since it’s become an obligation, however, I find I’m actually kinda starting to resent this little “write post” screen. I hate getting to the end of the day and feeling like I have to post something. It feels like I’m back in University staring down 4 different essays and a sudden desire to move the furniture around and clean behind the fridge, right down to the fact that it’s November.
Ironically, it’s that university deja vu that’s keeping me going. Back then, I never did play by the rules, and I never completed an assignment in the required amount of time. It’s pathetic, really. I know the mature thing to do would be to cry “uncle.” To throw in the keyboard and go back to posting only when I feel like it. But it also feel like bailing on NaBloPoMo now feels like I’d be giving in to the self fulfilling prophecy of being unable to meet a deadline.
So, I’m soldiering on. Doesn’t mean I have to like it, though; let’s just hope the rest of November goes by quickly.
I miss my blog.
Comment by Anna
Keep going! I love to read this blog…I’m a single mother myself…and I love checking in. Thanks for the effort!
Posted on November 17, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Comment by Lady M
Even last year, when I posted every day for one year to see if I could do it, I didn’t join NaBloPoMo because I didn’t think I could deal with more pressure.
How about giving yourself a break for two days and giving us a (short) fabulous book recommendation on one day and a movie recommendation on the other? Or something like that.
Posted on November 18, 2007 at 1:44 am
Comment by Aimee
I just found this blog via Tiny Kingdom.
I’m considering getting my teaching certificate. I’d love to read more about how you came to be an English teacher (as I would be, with my BA in English).
Love the post about co-sleeping, btw. Keep it up! I understand how you feel about writer’s block. I’m the same way… when I -have- to write, I don’t want to.
Posted on November 18, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Comment by mari
what is NaBloPoMo? I fear it will be similar to ‘getting violent”‘
Posted on November 18, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Comment by Kirsten
Hey you know what I think you should do?
Not that I don’t love your blog, you understand, but…
Quit. I gave this advice to someone today, someone who came by my booth at the Farmer’s Market (I sell yarn.). She said she had all these half-finished knitting projects, sitting there for going back a decade, sitting there winking at her, taunting her.
I said “throw them out.”
I advised her to give up. To stop “throwing good after bad” as my husband’s family likes to say. Donate all that yarn that’s taking up closet space to a thrift store, or a charity, or the dump. Take the weight off your shoulders. Start with a clean slate. Spend time doing what you really want to do, rather than what you think you should do.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for perseverence and integrity and stick-to-it-iveness and whatever all Protestant Work Ethic crap you can think of. Sometimes. But sometimes, you’re just being (say it with me) stubborn.
This blog is a joy to those who read it, and it should bring joy to the writer, too. Bring back the joy.
(Obligatory disclaimer — today I quit something that wasn’t painful, but I wasn’t liking it, and it wasn’t necessary to anyone. I feel sooo much better.)
Posted on November 19, 2007 at 12:28 am