I’m on a writing dry spell right now. It’s been two or three months since I’ve written _anything_ speculative. ((That isn’t technically true – I _did_ write one piece of flash fiction to came to me suddenly last month.)) I just haven’t had the interest lately. I’m just happy to be able to survive each of these cold, cold days right now. With eight horses to feed, this means breaking ice in buckets several times a day, hauling water from the house to the barns (no running water out there yet), mucking stalls (when it’s warm enough to be able to tolerate the temperatures), and taking care of feeding. Most of my life right now is horses and shivering, especially when the wind chills are as low as 30 below.
But there _is_ a light at the end of the temperature tunnel. While the forecast doesn’t reveal temps over freezing anytime within the next week, they _are_ on an upward trend, which gives me hope. And for once, I’m actually wishing that Punxatawney Pete is correct and that spring will be here six weeks earlier than normal. This is the single longest – and worst – cold snap in recent memory, and I’m ready for it to come to an end. And hopefully, once the weather warms up and the temperature in my office at home becomes tolerable again, I’ll feel a bit more like writing.
But for now, I’m going to add another sweatshirt and wrap up in a blanket and think sunny, warm thoughts. Maybe that’ll help.
I find really sitting down and hashing it out gets the creative juices flowing. Have you ever heard the story of how Mozart would routinely come to his piano each day and at the end of a certain period of time, he would compose his next symphony. The point of interest is not that he was sitting there, waiting for inspiration – he was inspired because he was working. I find that a very interesting notion, and it’s been something I’ve implemented for the last few months and it’s done wonders.
So try it, if you haven’t already and see what it does for you.
Oh, it’s not that I don’t have ideas – I have a dozen or so different stories that need writing. I just have a very full life right now, plus the miserable cold, all combining to destroy my interest in writing right now.
Ah! I can’t imagine a life where something else takes precedence over writing.
Ah, those would be called ‘bills’, my friend. Those take precedent any day of the week.
Ha! Good point.