Cranky writer time

by Donna

So I'm working on the next book.  People sometimes ask if it's fun writing my books, and the answer is that yes, a lot of the time it's fun.  But it's also work.  Which means that no matter how meaningful, rewarding, and even fun my work may be a lot of the time, at other times I run headlong against the fact that it is, after all. work.  If I'm recovering from a nasty cold followed by a secondary sinus infection and getting well even more slowly than usually because the ragweed allergy season is giving way to the leaf mold allergy season....it's less fun than usual. (Though still better than the old nine-to-five, Monday-through-Friday day job routine, any day.)

I'm only one day behind where I want to be on the book.  I'm chugging along, slowly but steadily.  But my writing avoidance behaviors are in full bloom.

One of the most common writing avoidance behaviors is nesting. Cleaning, organizing, and tidying.  It's not just me; a year or so ago, a writer friend reported a bafflingly  sudden and uncharacteristic urge to clean her desk. . . her office . . . perhaps her whole house.  Several of us asked if, perchance, she was on deadline.  Of course she was.  You may tell yourself that you can write better in a tidy office; you may claim that you're thinking about your book while dusting, mopping, scrubbing, and sorting; you may even be telling the truth.  But never try to fool yourself that these sudden domestic urges aren't writing avoidance.

I'm also prone to becoming intensely conscious of neglected social amenities. People who haven't heard from me in months will get long chatty emails.  My individual blog, which has had a long dry spell lately while I juggled more than a full plate of family and professional tasks, will probably begin thriving again. 

if possible, I try to make sure that some of my writing avoidance takes the form of writing stuff other than what I'm supposed to be writing.  I wrote a short story last week--because, of course, writing it was infinitely more attractive than adding an equal number of words to the book.

I'm also prone to falling into cranky writer syndrome.  Which looks something like this: writer comes up for air--perhaps after finishing daily quota--and decides, instead of playing Civilization for the rest of the evening, that perhaps she should do some Useful Tasks.  At least one of the tasks will result in some kind of annoyance that the writer might shrug off under normal circumstances, but a writer in full avoidance mode isn't very connected to normal.

Today's irritation: I replied to an email--in this case, someone asking me to support one of his projects.  A few seconds later, I get a form email that says:

Thanks for contacting [sender]. I'm protecting myself from receiving junk mail.

Please click the link below to complete the verification process.
You have to do this only once.

 [link]

You are receiving this message in response to your email to [sender], a Spam Arrest customer.

Spam Arrest requests that senders verify themselves before their email is delivered. 

When you click the above link, you will be taken to a page with a graphic on it. Simply read the word in the graphic, type it into the form, and you're verified.

You have to do this only once per Spam Arrest customer.

No, as a matter of fact, I don't have to do it even once.  I have no problems if [sender]--who was asking me to do something, remember--wants to protect himself from spam.  But if I'm replying to his request, I'm not spam.  If Spam Arrest offers no way for people who use it to pre-approve people to whom they are emailing, so they don't have to go through a multiple-step process to reply, then [sender] shouldn't be using Spam Arrest.  And if Spam Arrest does have such a feature, [sender] should learn how to use it before sending out requests by email.

There.  I feel much better, having gotten that off my chest.  So much better that I think I'll buckle down and write a page or two.

Just as soon as I finish organizing that messy desk drawer.

Comments

[Albert]

I've been a spam arrest customer for years.

First anyone you send an email to is automatically added to your approved sender list if you use their SMTP server or webmail interface.

Second you can pre-approve users by adding them using the import tool.

Hope this helps out.

[Donna Andrews]

Albert, thanks. You've confirmed what I suspected. The guy who emailed me COULD have arranged it so my reply would reach him without my having to jump through the Spam Arrest hoops. But since he was asking me to do something, I think it was rude of him not to do so. That's why he's not getting an answer.

[Marianne]

So that's what all of the cleaning is called when I'm in creative mode. :-D

Sorry I missed you at Bouchercon this weekend. I would have at last loved to tell you that I love all of your Meg Langslow books and reread them often. You have such a brillant talent with wordcraft and storytelling. But there, I've told you... :-D

Cheers,
Marianne

[stefan]

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[Maria]

Oooh, I just got one of those "promise me you aren't a spammer"--I was trying to answer a question that had been sent to me. Made me mad, but I had to reply anyway in order to get MY question answered.

I don't think I was mad just because I was, in fact, having one of those writer avoidance days...still am, which is how I ended up on this lovely blog.

:>)

Love the books (Meg Langslow) and one of my buddies just told me you have another series out too!!!

[Keri Ford]

One of the most common writing avoidance behaviors is nesting. Cleaning, organizing, and tidying. It's not just me; a year or so ago, a writer friend reported a bafflingly sudden and uncharacteristic urge to clean her desk. . . her office . . . perhaps her whole house.

Hmm. I do believe my husband will cry big drops of joy the day I sell!

[tube8]

I then move my body up and then my lips find his lips again and we start kissing again. He roles me over with care in the shower. His moist lips part with mine and start traveling down my body when I stop him.
tube8