In this time of lockdown, cabin fever is my Muse
Yo. Who’s in the mood for something confessional from a writer locked down with plenty of time on his hands but too much distraction? And too little self-discipline to shoot his friggin’ internet router.
Cri de coeur
Is my own life following a plot, or has it always been merely notes toward a motley assortment of lives I no longer have time to live?
Hamstrung by distraction
There. That’s me, just now. Spinning aphorisms when I’m supposed to be writing a novel. A whole series of novels. Plus I’m spinning this blog post.
Hamstrung by over-preparation
So what about my fiction writing? In some ways it resembles my personal life. Currently I’m overwhelmed by mountains of paper notes and drafts, gibabytes of digital files – terabytes, for all I know. Then there’s the absurd amount of background reading I feel is necessary, a veritable 1000-headed Hydra of books and articles.
The plan
I expect to awaken one morning soon to find my fiction project has reached the point of supersaturation. Abruptly the story I’m looking for will precipitate out, hanging on a plotline like crystals when you dip a string into a supersaturated salt solution.
Or, less pleasingly, I may experience a bursting of the dam, a logorrheic release of this novel and those to follow. By God, eh?
Lost the plot
But what about myself? What about the narrative that is me, eh?
Simple. I just write the memoir: Me: A Rabble.
That was interesting, and a hard read for a Norse with limited English understanding.
Now that I look at it again, I fear it doesn’t come across as very humorous after all. What do you think? Maybe I should withdraw it for second thoughts.
How are things with you in Norway?
Actually it was good.
Just a lot of difficult words for me that I had to look up all the time.
Well, I miss being in Thailand.
Kind of stuck here (in Norway), like most people are, somewhere in the world.
It’s good, as Kai says, but how’s about if you simply slide some of the work in progress into your Facebook timeline as a sample and get back to work? Huh? Huh? Have a taste of this! [Sound of whip cracking] Sincerely, Simon Legree
That’s actually a good idea, Brad. Let me see whether my internal critic agrees some of the start is ready for the public eye. (I’m kind of bashful, in this regard.)
Good advice. Instead I spent a month packing up and moving to a new apartment, drowning in paper notes and books all the while, striving to cull things yet winding up with mountains of paper in the new joint nonetheless.
But what if I don’t want my comment to become moderate? What’s this, “Your comment is awaiting moderation” bullshit?
My apologies. Didn’t realize I had to approve your comments. Others have snuck in without my intervention.
And I appreciate your own immoderation in this matter. 🙂
True, we get this message about the message being moderated first.
Sometimes (not this time).