Mood-2 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

… to write. What did you think I was talking about? Get your mind out of the gutter!!

I just finished reading the post “Some Ideas” by Vy Chazen, wherein she listed some quick pick-me-ups to get into the writing mood. Thank you for that, by the way, since it was my inspiration for this post. I was hoping for some new spectacular ideas and she did provide 12 different scenarios. I tried not to giggle while I read them – I really did – but I couldn’t help but notice how few of those options might actually work for me. Not that I haven’t already tried a couple of them before.

As usual, I’m brimming with optimism as I lay out all the reasons why NOTHING can help me get in the mood.

1.  Apparently “the flicker of fire is relaxing”. Lighting a candle would never give me the relaxation intended. When you have two little girls taking turns asking mommy this and mommy that, no amount of flames could ever get me in the zone.

2.  Jam out a few songs (dancing) to get pumped up. I can say that I’ve resorted to this method one too many times. Instead of making me more productive, I catch myself stopping to go Gangnam style and then I’m a goner.

3.  “Take a shower, so you feel fresh and clean and ready to go.” I bathe in the morning. Just the thought of having to blow dry my hair again drives me crazy. Not gonna happen.

4.  “Bring all you need into your writing space…” Despite my good intentions, the second I get going, a new need arises; whether it is my kids, the door, my phone or nature calling. There’s no way I could just sit in my chair for one solid hour uninterrupted. That just doesn’t happen in my house.

5.  “Stretch your neck and loosen your muscles.” I guess I can’t reasonably bash this one, when I’ve never given it a chance. I just don’t see how that’s going to get me in the mood.

6.  Down an energy drink and go. You will never catch me downing an energy drink, let alone outlining my scenes. The hubby is addicted to Red Bull. They aren’t the cheapest drinks out there, in case you’ve not noticed, and have you ever actually tasted one of those things? He calls it high test. I call it nasty.

7.  “Tell everyone in your house that you’re about to write, so they can leave you alone.” This one makes me laugh. I don’t dare notify the household when I’m going to write. This always guarantees an immediate interruption. They always need something.

8.  Listening to colourful noise will not help this girl out. Even when the kids are asleep, the house remains silent. I can’t very well drown out their cries about the boogie monster attacking them in their sleep. It just wouldn’t be right.

9.  Wow! This one actually works for me. “Speak as you type so you can hear the flow of the story.” In fact, as I sat in a surprisingly empty office today, I found myself talking aloud. It really does help. Again though, how often are you alone? Me? Never. Except for today by fluke.

10.  Complete a Sudoku puzzle? I find it hard to see how this would get my brain into the mood, when it’s too busy trying to figure out the puzzle. If anything, it would effectively remove all creative thought process from my head. Not very handy if you’re trying to get in the mood to write.

11.  “Ask someone to make out with you?” I’m sure my hubby would love that. *sarcasm* Since I have but one test subject for this innovative idea, who I’ve happened to practice on for many years, let me tell you that doing that will only inspire one thing. I can assure you it is not writing.

12.  Blocking the internet is just ridiculous. It’s like putting a pad lock on your fridge when you’re on a diet. Again, are you going to be in the mood if you’re constantly thinking about what you can’t have? No. And as for using a hard copy dictionary and thesaurus: 1. I don’t even own one; and 2. What a waste of time. When I’m writing, I like to check my synonym options in a matter of seconds. If I don’t find the word I’m thinking of near instantly, then the flow is lost anyway.

And so… the moral of my story is… there’s no such thing as distraction free writing
when you have children… or a husband… or Twitter. So for me, at least, I stab away at the keyboard when the opportunity arises and hope for the best.

How do you “get in the mood”?

FYI: I stopped writing this post three times to give a kiss goodnight, check my email, Twitter and to use the online Thesaurus. Just sayin. 😉