Monday, February 22, 2016

Back in the Blogging World Again*



In an effort to crank-start my blog, I have joined a few of my fellow writers from my writing group, Write On Mamas, have agreed to commit to writing one or two blog posts over the next month, and then visit each other's blogs and comment. 

Quite by chance, I had a fabulous, clever and witty new post spring effortlessly into my head during my morning meditation two days ago. I often do this, have amazing and creative ideas when I meditate, along with devising massive To Do lists and obsessing over family members and wondering if they would appreciate my wise counsel and 'helpful' suggestions. My Buddhist nun sister says this is called 'Monkey Mind'. Charming! But also pretty accurate. My mind, when I ask it to sit quietly and think of nothing, jumps from one thought branch to another like a chimpanzee on crack. No wonder I have not yet morphed into a creature of zen calm and wisdom.

Anyway, I obviously could not remember the incredibly funny and brilliant post from my meditation, as I am now a 'woman-of-a-certain-age' and have the memory span of a pissed goldfish, so I am going to have to think of something else to write about. Damn.

The reason I have not written a post for over a year is because it was taking up too much of my time and attention, and meant that I was not writing my memoir, which was the whole sodding point of starting a blog in the first place. To 'build my platform' as all the  marketing gurus will tell you, is essential if you want to get a publishing contract, which, of course I do, so that I will be become rich and famous and have people swooning over my magical prose and hysterical hyperbole (I just learned this word from my new critique partner). The problem is that I am too easily distracted. It's bad enough with emails and Facebook and constant interruptions from my family, but add a blog to the mix and I am well and truly done for! 

The good news is that I used the time not-blogging to actually finish my book! Yay! The bad news is that it is just the 'shitty first draft' as Anne Lamott is fond of saying, and I am now deep in the throes of re-writing and editing it. Still, I am feeling encouraged as I can almost see the light at the end of a very long, demanding, and extremely dirty tunnel. 

I am hoping that I am now disciplined enough to be able to manage a blog, as well as editing my book. We shall see. In the meantime, I should probably decide what exactly I am blogging about!

Here are my fellow Write On Mamas blogs if you want to pop over and say Hello:



(* Just in case you are not a David Gray fan, this is a play on one of his songs: Back in the World Again. Clever, right? But only if you are a Gray fan, otherwise it would have gone completely over your head, hence I am explaining it now, which is never good, right? Perhaps I should change the title …)

9 comments:

  1. Oh, Claire. You are hilarious! Your mind and mine must be quite similar. My husband calls it the "butterfly theory" of getting things done. One flits from thing to thing, never lingering long enough on any particular flower to suck its nectar dry. There is such a smorgasbord of flowers, why relegate the sipping to just a few?

    I enjoyed listening to an excerpt from your memoir at the WOMs meeting yesterday. Can't wait until it's in print for all to read. It's sure to be a NYTimes bestseller. They will make it into a movie starring Kate Winslet, which will win an Oscar for Best Movie, and you will generously support your colleagues by buying their books and giving them scholarships to writing colonies. Right?

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    1. Hahaha Yes of course I shall! If I have time from my red carpet life, that is!

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  2. Yay! You did it...you have a manuscript to show for a year of not blogging. Shitty first draft or not, it's still a result. What are your other strategies?! I can hear your voice in your writing loud and clear which suggests your draft is far from shitty. Congratulations!

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  3. This is great, Claire! I loved reading it and so could relate!

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  4. Ha! Love your images of mediation - that is exactly what my mind does too! And now, tomorrow, when I am on my mat, I will be thinking of monkeys jumping from tree to tree. I suppose that is one step closer to what I should be thinking about. Which is nothing, right? I look forward to reading the memoir - and lucky you for reaching the shitty first draft stage! That is marvelous! ~ Meagan Schultz (not quite sure how to comment on here with my name)

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    1. Thanks Meagan - glad I'm not the only one with a wandering meditation mind!

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