Or anxious doldrums?
Last night, and again this morning, I've been haunted by a nagging disappointment, a sense of expectations not met.
After I returned home from class and helped fix a light supper, I sat down at my computer—and I was surprised when nothing happened. I couldn't get purchase on any ideas, couldn't find a way to dig in and start.
That isn't unusual. I often start with great hopes for great inspiration—and I don't often get it. I go on. I noodle around. I shift words in poems I've been worrying over lately. Why was last night different?
And why again this morning? It's an odd feeling, being on the cusp of something, not knowing what. Is it a block? Or is it just a lull as the momentum for a project slows? Maybe I just think it's writing, when actually it's the reading this Saturday and the trip to Santa Fe next weekend.
But I wish I could put my finger on it, figure it out, start.
What gets you going when you feel you really need to be going?
Random thoughts on writing poetry and life in general
About me
- Joannie Stangeland
- Joannie Kervran Stangeland writes poetry and the Poe-query blog. Her new book, Into the Rumored Spring, was published by Ravenna Press. Joannie's also the author of two chapbooks--A Steady Longing for Flight (winner of the Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Award) and Weathered Steps (Rose Alley Press). Her poems have also appeared in The Midwest Quarterly, Valparaiso Poetry Review, and other publications.
Blog archive
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2008
(187)
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August
(14)
- Fake bio!
- In the moment
- Family reunion, 2008
- 30 years & a lifetime
- Who needs what to write, to meet?
- My journey to the high plains
- (my) Rules to write by
- La festa della cipolla
- Software: Can it soften the work?
- Aack! What to pack?
- What's for dinner?
- Summer ghost?
- The perfect New Yorker
- Some pics from our island weekend
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August
(14)
My site
Poetry on the sofa
A Writer's Guide to Microsoft Office
Videos in the Guide
- Poetry notes in OneNote
- Create a manuscript (part 1)
- Create a manuscript (part 2)
- Create a booklet
- Create a flyer you can print or send in email
- Track writing submissions
- Don't miss a deadline!
- Single-space your line-spacing in Word 2007
- Track your word count in Word 2007
- Setting up a Mail Merge in Publisher
Links
- The Sun Hunters
- Ravenna Press
- Rose Alley Press
- The Alchemist's Kitchen: Susan Rich's blog
- Floating Bridge Press
- Mutating the signature: Dana Guthrie Martin's blog
- paperarts: Jane Chang's blog
- Judith Skillman's site
- Kathleen Flenniken
- Open Books: A Poem Emporium
- First Draft Leonardo Likes Gulls
- The Virtual World: Peter Pereira's blog
- Premium T.: T Clear's blog
- AndrewJShields
- Corn Shake: Aimee Nez's blog
- Jeannine Blogs
- It's Not About The Hair: Debra Jarvis's blog
- Thomas Stangeland, Artist/Craftsman
- Pavement and velodromes: Christine's blog
- Shelburne Arts Co-op
- Poetry Super Highway
- Nostalgia: The Poetess at Green Lake
- The Poetry Foundation
3 comments:
What gets me going? Procrastination and looming deadlines! Probably not what you wanted to hear...
Going to a reading and stealing that writerly energy.
Reading.
Autumn-- I am not a great summer writer, but when fall comes, I go back into student-mode and the work comes. It's a pain for me to be so directed by seasons, but I've learned that summer is my "filling up" time and Sept-May (even mid-August to May) is my writing time.
As I've gotten older, (unless there's a deadline), I've been less likely to try to force things and instead just say, Well, I'll write next week.
good post!
Deadlines? We don't need no stinkin' deadlines!
Okay, maybe I do. But with poetry, I only have one hard-and-fast deadline: the annual Floating Bridge Press deadline in February. Although if I want to get this full-length manuscript published, I guess I should get a little discpline and keep track of some of those contest dates.
Kelli, I'm on the same wave-length about back-to-school autumn (I love that!), reading is always good for me, and I appreciate a good fallow. But my problem now is that I feel inspired. I have many things to write, until I sit down to write them. Then I feel empty--all dressed up with nowhere to go.
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