"Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me." -Pslam 51:10
A pluviophile is a lover of rain. Someone who finds joy and peace of mind during rainy days. I am a pluviophile, have I mentioned that before? I cannot even describe in our human language how much I adore rain. Listening to it as I'm reading, seeing lichen coated tree bark as I pass a rain-streaked window, feeling it on my arms and face as I step out of my home to make the journey to the rabbit shed (the rabbits, by the way, don't like the rain. Sweeti Pi sulks in the rain, and Mr. Darcy, after getting drenched once during an unfortunate event one Christmas, actually screamed in panic. Did you know rabbits scream? They do: high pitched, shrill, and very noisy. There, you learn something new every day. But I digress).
I find rain soothing, and refreshing. The world gets softer and darker for awhile, and we are sprinkled with sparkling jewels that cause the grass and trees to turn bright green, and flowers open up. I open up, too.
Often I do some of my best writing in the rain. It doesn't seem to matter what particular chapter I'm working on; if the clouds roll in, and the sky begins to weep, my words flow more easily from my mind to my brain to my arms to my fingertips to my story. So, you could say, rain is my muse.
And the Wunderpus Photogenicus is mine (rare octopus breed, in case you were wondering).
An excellent artificial rainstorm can be creating by using RainyMood.com (which is very nice, by the way).
Noted.
Writing in the dead of night also has that same sort of muse-worthy atmosphere for me. Tucked in bed with only the stars and the moonlight (and those lovely glow-in-the-dark stars and moons), I have the same sort of experience as when it is raining. Hm. I do like sunlight, but my creativity seems most open when it's darker out.
Interesting! With that in mind, I can use this knowledge for my benefit. If there's been a scene that I've struggled with, I'll put it aside for the moment. Then when it starts to rain, I'll grab that trickster, and find myself writing up a storm--during a thunder storm!
Where is your creative hiding place? I'm sure you know what I mean. Use it to your benefit, but don't let it disable you (for instance, thinking: "Oh, I can't write right now, because it isn't raining."), rather, using your special as a super power. Sometimes for me it's concentrating on doing random acts of kindness for others (I'm pretty sure there's some scientific reason for this that a scientist could explain), or taking a walk, or listening to Benny Goodman (because who doesn't love that? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhyhP_5VfKM). More often than not, the thing I love to do when I can't get my ducks (or words), in a row is to dance in the rain.
Speaking of writers block, that's only one of the many obstacles in the writing process. Another obstacle, unless I'm mistaken, it you.
Me?
Well, no, not you specifically, Johnny, but any writer who finds him or herself purposely avoiding the keys. This is the most dangerous kind of obstacle in the writing journey, because you can sometimes be the most stubborn, unrelenting dragon that ever guarded its eggs. I've done the dance: skipping over my designated writing time, making up excuses, avoiding writing at all costs. Why does this happen? Could be laziness, or fear. Or both. Which is fine, but if we want to be successful writers (and we do!), then we are going to have to get over these things. And write.
Even if you aren't sure about what you're writing. Even if you know you'll be going back and changing it when you're done. Even if you think it's probably the lamest, most insignificant bit of work you've ever done. Write, write, and don't stop. An artist must begin her work, no matter how intimidating an empty slate can be. She can't be afraid of making a mess on the pristine canvas. She has to dive in, make mistakes, look at her work, evaluate (stand back and squint, as mentioned in an earlier post), and see what she can do to turn it towards what she wants it to be. Because having something terrible to work with is better than having nothing.
Life is messy! Writing novels is messy! But they both come out beautiful (like a spider web after a rainstorm), in the end.
So, as to procrastination, Newbery award winner Madeline L'engle says: “I have advice for people who want to write. I don't care whether they're 5 or 500. There are three things that are important: First, if you want to write, you need to keep an honest, unpublishable journal that nobody reads, nobody but you. Where you just put down what you think about life, what you think about things, what you think is fair and what you think is unfair. And second, you need to read. You can't be a writer if you're not a reader. It's the great writers who teach us how to write. The third thing is to write. Just write a little bit every day. Even if it's for only half an hour — write, write, write.”
You could spend just half an hour on your writing, no matter how uncertain you feel, couldn't you? So don't fear the empty page; embrace it, and all the adventure it has to offer.
Write. Right now.
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