Some moods can make me crave avoidance of any kind of expression and being on automatic is a substitute for presence and feeling what you don’t want to feel. But, I’ve learned to lean into the mood and see what seems most purposeful in the moment — poetry, a short story, the skeleton of a novel, a scrapbook for future horror stories or a soliloquy.
The writing muscle continues to grow some girth and eventually, some definition. Being who you’re meant to be as a writer requires curiosity about the inner workings of one’s mind and the audacity to have opinions about everything and to envision the possibility of becoming an authority on something or someone. In writing through uncomfortable feelings, such as impatience, pain and grief, the writer wins. Boethius wrote in prison while awaiting execution, which reminds me to be a little tougher.
A hint of melancholy is just another shade in the color palette and not a reason to run from what has made life worth living on so many occasions.
Dark moods might inspire a radical departure from the norm. Writing through feelings is another experiment and what is creativity but a series of experiments?
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