The process of writing can seem nebulous. On a conscious level, you are aware that putting butt to chair and pen to pad creates a flow of ideas. But where it comes from seems a lot less clear.
Does a writer need to be in fits of rage or a constant cynic to engender passionate pieces of prose?
I often wonder if it’s like me and running. It only feels good when it’s bad. In other words, catch me running begrudgingly when all is well in the world, but I’ll pass you if I’m down in the dumps.
But can words dance on the page when things are sunny inside and out?
Can you, for example, be at the height of your career, enjoying the wealth of professional success, physical health and the comforts of loving friends and family and write your heart out about murder, violence, deep discord and text that would make an optimist weep?
I think so.
And so does Julia Cameron. In The Right to Write, she says that writing when happy not only inspires great pieces of work, but inspires joy and happiness itself.
Case in point, guess who’s stuck on the couch in a sweat-inducing room, in a foul mood with a possibly broken, certainly purple toe? Besides feeling the effects of a biking accident (rubber slippers I found are not adequate safety gear while biking), the painters have enclosed us in a claustrophobic bubble of plastic and tape. And have done so for the last few days.
What I enjoy most, being outside, walking/running on the sand, smelling the ocean air is far from likely within the next few days let alone the next several weeks. But I’m smiling ear to ear simply because the act of writing this post to you feels like hope. It is in its own way a little ray of sunshine peeking through that wrinkled plastic drapes preventing me from seeing the clouds.
But what about you?
Are you only able to write when you’re in a good or bad mood? Please chime in. My current audience is my broken toe, my rabbit and my poor husband and at least one of them is getting tired of listening.
