I’m staring at three half-written blog posts about Important Copywriter Topics, but can’t quite bring myself to finish them.
It’s been a tough couple of weeks, the brain feels like it’s stuffed with cotton balls, and I’m yawning uncontrollably.
It’s time for the Friday Face Plant.
Ironically, the concept of writer’s block has generated more words than all other subjects save love, politics and fly fishing, yet little has been written about Weary Writer Syndrome – the fugue state where you look and act like a functioning human being, but can barely tie your own shoes without assistance.
Combine Weary Writer with Writer’s Guilt – where you feign hyper-productivity to escape the accusation that you basically lie around the house all day in filthy pajamas – and the results are horrifying: split infinitives, passive voice, obsessive blog entries, and run-on sentences a tripping acid/meth freak would enjoy.
Eventually, you abandon all pretense of erudition, brain function slows, intelligence fades, and you come to a couple weeks later having just written (on spec) a user guide for a piece of software released a decade ago.
Resistance is Futile. Or is it?
I write for a living, and while it’s hard to imagine a better job, some days it’s also hard to imagine writing another word.
If that happens on a Friday, I take the afternoon off. Sometimes I fly fish (hence my Trout Underground fly fishing blog), sometimes I hike, and sometimes I get horizontal on the couch.
So it’s Friday. Chandler says it’s OK to take the afternoon off. What do you do?
[tags]writing, copywriting[/tags]
First, I fight with myself over whether I really should be throwing in the towel for the day. Then, I convince myself that I’m not being productive anyhow. Next, to stay near the work, but not in the work, I balance my checkbook or return e-mail.
At this point, I realize that my mind needs to focus on something completely different so I minimize the screen and switch off the monitor. Before I can change my mind, I pull on jogging pants and tennis shoes, grab my iPod and zoom out the door for a walk or run, depending on whether I’m facing Weary Writer Syndrome or Writer’s Guilt.
By the time I return, my mind has cleared and I’ve come to my senses: I’m not to work any more for the day. I set my sights on the being creative in the kitchen and prepare a mean meal for dinner.
Creative indeed. I wish I was as ambitious, but since I’m not, I’m coming to your house for next Friday’s dinner…
i clean my apartment and eat a whole lot of chocolate while listening to random episodes of “friends.”
I find great blogs of writers and see who else is having an ‘off’ day.
I do this by picking someone out of Carson’s link at the Content Done Better Blog. It’s led me to some great places–like here.
I do occasionally walk to my pond and I have been known to throw a line in.
Have a great week,
Ann