It feels so good to finally break through a barrier. Or two.

The last week has been awful. I haven’t been able to write. I sit and stare at the computer screen, but nothing comes. “I’ve lost it,” I think. “I’m doomed.”

I try to find other things to occupy my time, but all I can think about is that I cannot write. I had 4-1/2 days during which nothing came. It was like pulling teeth to get even a basic weblog entry done.

“There’s a lot of fluff around here late,” one Get Rich Slowly commenter noted. No kidding. Believe me, I know it.

Yesterday afternoon, I could feel things changing. I had lunch with Michael Hampton, and the conversation jarred something loose. It removed whatever had been obstructing the writing process. I took the long way home from Monmouth, which also helped. I exchanged a bunch of e-mail with Lauren Muney. I went to bed early.

Today I went to work for the first time since noon on Friday. I expected to be making sales calls with David Gingerich, my replacement, but he had called in sick. I stayed in the office to answer phones, but it was slow. What I really did was write. And write. And write. And write.

I wrote four posts for Get Rich Slowly and four posts for Get Fit Slowly. In many cases, I took articles I had begun to piece together last week and rework them to final form. Before, I would look at these pieces and want to give up. I just couldn’t see how they were supposed to end up. Today it was easy. Today I could see how to get from point A to point B.

I also took my bike into the shop to get an overhaul. I’m ready to ride.

Now I’m sitting in my favorite chair listening to XM 81 (BPM – dance music), waiting for my sweetheart to come home. We’re going to Gino’s. I’m going to have clams.

And to think that two days ago nothing was going right…

7 Replies to “180 Degrees”

  1. Lauren says:

    Things have seasons, including writing and making decisions. Rhythms. Circadian (body clocks), weather, thoughts, moods, etc. I hope you just savor the contrast (between not-writing and writing again) and move on, smiling, to eat those clams 🙂

  2. Paul J. says:

    Wouldn’t it be great to be able to bottle that “something” that whateveritwas that cleared your blockage. If you could bottle it, you would get filthy rich quickly!

  3. Jason Unger says:

    I know the feeling, JD — there are times when the content is flowing and things are going great, and times when you stare at the screen and nothing comes.

    Glad to hear you’re back on the positive side.

  4. Red says:

    Congratz, I know how that feels currently.

    I’ve committed to posting weekly on a video blog I’m trying to start (unstarved.com), and I’ve got some good premises for this week’s episode, but it hasn’t gelled into a solid episode yet and I’ve only got a few hours tonight to make it happen.

    Hopefully I’ll find a 4am miracle[1] similar to your sudden rush of productivity.

    [1] 4am miracle was a Studio 60 episode.[2]

    [2] Man, a comment footnotes plugin would be great.

  5. Mitch says:

    … or maybe everything that needs to be said has already been written, and the universe is trying to tell u something

  6. Denise says:

    You’ve been sitting in you chair listening to music for 13 days now…

  7. I came across the phrase XM 81 BPM and you like to listen to that station then you would like my DJ REMIX blog and podcasts embedded in pages player with hour long sets. XM 81 BPM chart is my playlist, too. If you find your way there, leave a comment and let me know.

    Wesley Miller

    aka

    DJ Choppercat

    San Francisco, CA USA

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