When the words come undone
Just lately, life has got in the way of my words. She has shouldered in and jabbed me with her bony elbows, so that my usual daily word count has become my weekly word count… if I’m lucky! I would say that this is one of the few negatives of being a writer, that when ‘other stuff’ happens, it can become hard to write, and, sensitive souls that we often are, we then beat ourselves about the head with the fact that we have failed to reach our daily target.
Firstly, there was ‘the virus’, which has had me up and down like the proverbial yo-yo for the last five weeks. Not only have I felt pants, it has also meant that I’ve had hardly any long trudgy boggy hound walks, no gym and swim time, no wandering around people watching time – all the things that keep me from going stark raving bonkers – and very little time to do anything with the kids. Needless to say, my writing (thus my sanity) has suffered as I have felt wiped out and have often retreated to my sweaty pit by 8pm in a wave of self-pity (yack!)
Then there was the launch of Buttercup Magic. Of course, this was wonderful and exciting, but launching a book and planning a launch and fretting over it, isn’t great when you feel like something the cat dragged in, took out again, chewed and malled for a bit and then dragged in again! Then, once the launch was over, there was the prep for Derbyshire Literary Festival… also lovely and exciting, but also really hard for this jaded and marble-depleted has-been writer to get on top of. Luckily, I started to pick up towards the end of last week, so was able to enjoy these events, which were really fab – top days, and the kids were funny ha-ha! I hit the sweaty pit as soon as I got home though and slept for hours!
On Saturday, I had my first ‘me on my ownsome’ jaunt for weeks – a wander round town and some
people watching in a cafe – accompanied by notebook and pen – hoorah! I didn’t write a lot, but I kind of began to feel like a writer again. On Sunday I had another jaunt and bought these fab shoes (Observant Tweeps may have already spotted these from my twit-pics!) I didn’t do any writing, but what the heck, when a girl’s gotta shop, a girl’s gotta shop!
Now, I have (cover your ears) OFSTED… oh yes! Next week, we at Adult Ed are being OFSTEDED! The good news is that I am feeling big bucketloads better and have managed to get on top of all the relevant paperwork, so that I now have two very lovely OFSTED friendly teaching folders that the OFSTEDERS can’t fail to worship and adore. A fellow
tweep, George Kirk, suggested I line them with lead (for beating them about the head.) I suggested a more subtle approach… pink fur lined folders with little wee pockets for chocolate bunnies. In the end, a compromise was sought, and we went for Poison Bunnies of Arsenicbundon with slashing talons and sabre like teeth, not to mention their ability to suck the souls of the innocent! Oh, what joy it was to be creatively wordy on The Twit!!! As you can see, I have now immortalised a Poison Bunny of Arsenicbundon… he may revisit my blog in the future. Also note, me and George have copyright… Mwahahahahaha! And, also note, Kate Madigan, that the Poison Bunny of Arsenicbundon has wee wings so if he isn’t tunnelling, he may be flying… lock your windows!!!
I have missed my words. I have missed them not coming into my head. It’s been like looking at the vague outline of crows through a foggy morn. They have been just visible, but out of my reach. And, of course, I have given myself a hard time for not being able to summon them. But my novel has waited very patiently, so, this week, I have begun again, and with a new appreciation of how much it means to me and how, when we feel incapacitated, it affects every aspect of our lives. I have also had two lovely trudges through fields with the hound. Who knows, I may even squeeze in a gym and swim later!
Does life get in the way of your writing sometimes or do you battle on regardless?
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