Her Bad Mother

Monday, May 14, 2007

Why Don't You Leave Your Name and Number and I'll Get Back To You?


You ever have one of those blogging days, when, despite there being no end of stories to tell and theories to expound and confessions to make, the muse just refuses to come sit with you and so you just end up staring at your computer screen, your mind blank and your fingers still?

Or maybe your fingers aren't still. Maybe you subscribe to that school of writing thought that says that even when uninspired you must still write just write just keep tap-tap-tapping at the keyboard until the sentences start running kind of like starting a stalled car by pushing it down a hill and pumping the gas until the motor kicks in and you're on your way or even if you're not on your way it doesn't really matter because at least you were writing and the important thing is to write write write and keep writing, right?

Except that that never really works, and you just end up producing bad stream-of-consciousness babble.

Or maybe you just keep starting sentences but inevitably end up backspacing to delete them because the full force of their mediocrity hits at, oh, about the second or third or fourth or - if you were maybe kinda onto something except that actually no you weren't - ninth word:

Yesterday, WonderBaby...

(backspace-delete)

Mother's Day sucked because...

(backspace-backspace-delete)

Phallic Lovey is missing and all hell has broken loose and...

(backspace-backspace-backspace-backspace-delete)

So maybe you've typed and deleted at least umpteen hundred words by now and are just feeling, like, blaaaah, yech, STUCK and need to bail on this whole writing thing for the day so that your head doesn't blow off and make a big icky mess that you're just going to have to clean up yourself anyway.

Ever have one of those days? I'm having one of those days. I had one of those days yesterday, too. I may have one again tomorrow. I'll let you know.

All lines to HBM's creative consciousness are currently disconnected. Please try again later.

52 Comments:

Blogger Run ANC said...

Oh man, I've been. In fact, I'm there now.

2:00 PM  
Blogger Piddler said...

Go out and take photos.

There's nothing like photos to help you get a grip on what you were doing (and therefore, thinking).

Or get drunk. Who cares if it helps.

2:11 PM  
Blogger Blog Antagonist said...

Oy. Hate writer's block. I second the wine suggestion. It might not get your creative juices flowing, but at least you won't give a flip. :?)

2:12 PM  
Blogger Kyla said...

If I get writer's block, someone inevitably gets sick or goes to the hospital, and then I have material again. *lol* But I don't recommend going that route.

2:35 PM  
Blogger Magpie said...

Great photo! It needs a fab caption which I am no good at. But that there picture is the 1000 words. What on earth is the baby doing in a vineyard dragging a telephone around?

2:39 PM  
Blogger Marty, a.k.a. canape said...

Some days (who am I kidding - lots of days) I have absolutely nothing to say. I simply love the way my fingers feel on the keys and the sound that the keyboard makes. Strange, I know.

2:41 PM  
Blogger Robbin said...

Boy, howdy, you described six out of the seven days of my week, right there.

On the seventh day, I can occasionally manage brilliant.

2:54 PM  
Blogger Bea said...

Oh, no! A missing lovey is every parent's worst nightmare.

2:58 PM  
Blogger kittenpie said...

Yes. This past week or two, I don't even have the brain power or energy to READ blogs, let alone write asnything decent on my own, and I feel terrible about all the people I normally leave nice comments for who are getting no kitten love these days. Sigh. Someday soon, I hope.

3:13 PM  
Blogger metro mama said...

I'm having an awful lot of blogging ennui lately.

Maybe I should write about that.

I'm sorry mother's day sucked.

3:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not only do I hear ya, but I'm listening!

xoxo

3:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Maybe you subscribe to that school of writing thought that says...." Holy Run-On Sentence.....this is ME! I have those days all the time....it's awful....:(

I hope it goes away soon -- for the both of us.

3:46 PM  
Blogger MsPrufrock said...

That's the story of my month. Oh, to see how many unfinished drafts I have lingering on my account...

4:09 PM  
Blogger Mary said...

Yup, hate those days! Don't worry... you'll be inspired soon, I'm sure!

4:37 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

It must be catching, because I'm in the same place right now. Blech!

5:21 PM  
Blogger Mel said...

Been there? I invented there!
(Okay. No I didn't. But I wanted my little Al Gore moment.)
I am currently writing about my cold. That's the sum total of y inspiration today. Eghhhh.

5:24 PM  
Blogger Jenifer said...

That photo is so compelling I keep staring!

Hope your wires get uncrossed soon. Until then enjoy the static.

5:54 PM  
Blogger Lara said...

Lara David: 1-800-BLOGR-HO. get back to me when you can. ;)

p.s. i have something for you at my place if you get a chance to check it out...

6:04 PM  
Blogger S said...

The lovey! The lovey! Just talk about the phallic lovey!

So much blog fodder there.

7:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes! I'm there with you. Maybe it's the weather? Yeah. That sounds good. It's the weather.

7:18 PM  
Blogger Beck said...

I've been hitting constant blocks lately. Is it seasonal, you think, like hayfever?

7:32 PM  
Blogger motherbumper said...

Inspiration: retro-toy doll strollers are so cool but are they any better than the pink toy gender-stereotyping strollers of today? Because I want to know and I really want a retro-toy doll stroller.

7:39 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Totally with you -- all kinds of writing mean all kinds of writer's block.

One thing that's helped me is a switch of medium. I'll try writing longhand, or on post-it notes, or even dictating (I got one of those dictation programs -- the results have been pretty interesting). Change of locale sometimes helps me, too.

Wine, interestingly, helps me (for one glass) and then makes my blocks much, much worse (after the first glass).

Good luck!

8:00 PM  
Blogger Fairly Odd Mother said...

Move over. I just joined the party of suckiness. Hope it ends soon.

8:06 PM  
Blogger BOSSY said...

Well Bossy - backspace backspace delete - can relate.

8:50 PM  
Blogger Julie Pippert said...

Color me beyond impressed that you can say, "I've got nothing to say, that is, nothing I can actually write due to writer's block..." and manage to get 25 replies. Dude, you SO rock!

Wait, make me #26. ;)

I hear there are really fantastic lovey locator psychics. ;)

8:54 PM  
Blogger Bon said...

i'm with Julie...your writers' block is entertaining enough to inspire a small novel of comments. dude. hold your head high. your comments section is richer than half the posts i read out there...

and i will stay tuned for the saga of the missing phallic lovey and the psychics who try to locate it for WonderBaby.

9:10 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

hey! didn;t know you were having a bad day, m'lady! hope you're feeling better. and i hate you for being so talented even when blocked...(xoxox)

9:32 PM  
Blogger crazymumma said...

The problem is I don't hit delete. I publish the damn thing and call it art or some such thing.

Hope the muse comes a knocking soon....

9:46 PM  
Blogger Tere said...

Considering your last post, you're forgiven for having a museless day.

9:48 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Still enjoying it, though. :)

9:52 PM  
Blogger NotSoSage said...

Oh, indeed. That's part of the reason that there are 75 or so unfinished posts sitting waiting to be written.

I hope tomorrow is better...hang in there.

10:20 PM  
Blogger Alex Elliot said...

I've been there too. On the other hand sometimes I'm amazed that I actually have things to write about when I'm spending the majority of my day changing diapers and cleaning high chair trays :) Love the picture!

10:39 PM  
Blogger Girl con Queso said...

I have no idea what you're talking about.

But of course I'm kidding. And it seems you made a whole post about it. Brilliant.

10:42 PM  
Blogger Christina said...

Yes, I know exactly how you feel. Everything I write lately is feeling stale, like I'm stuck with nothing to write about except waiting for this baby.

Oh wait, that is all I'm doing at the moment. Life is apparently just as boring as what I'm trying to write, and then deleting.

11:11 PM  
Blogger Girlplustwo said...

ah, yes. i know it well.

but you, friend, your well is fuller (go with the bad grammar) than most just about all the time.

11:57 PM  
Blogger flutter said...

um, how about....well, shit. I got nothin'.

12:23 AM  
Blogger Lady M said...

Totally understand.

I have a huge thank-you post to Lara and my other friends who gave me a very touching gift this weekend. And nothing coherent is coming out of my keyboard. So, I guess I'm writing about reality TV tonight instead.

1:55 AM  
Blogger ewe are here said...

I have lots of those days. Lots. In fact, I think they outnumber the 'something intelligent to say' days.
:-p

8:03 AM  
Blogger ms blue said...

You know how some people can wear anything and make it stylish? Yah that's you. From pasties to words...

8:19 AM  
Blogger Susanne said...

Oh well, me too. I think you called it blogstipation the other day. Nice post though.

(And now I'll have to fetch my son and so blogging time today was spent reading blogs again. Drat!)

9:44 AM  
Blogger liz said...

Amen.

9:52 AM  
Blogger PunditMom said...

My fallback when that happens -- PHOTOS!! :)

10:06 AM  
Blogger Kelly said...

Even when having writer's block, HBM manages to still be entirely worth the stop.

Hoping the muse finds you soon, but you know, playing with a disconnected phone out in a field of trees looks rather fun.

10:53 AM  
Blogger The Domesticator said...

Ive "been there" for the last two months *LOL*

11:04 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What? Doesn't everybody's kid take an old desk phone with them when they go out to play? LOL

11:28 AM  
Blogger Lawyer Mama said...

When I have those days I put up photos. And the one you put up of Wonderbaby is perfect.

11:36 AM  
Blogger Karla Zamora, Digital Analyst said...

I am so there right now.

So many thoughts, but nothing coherent and interesting comes out.

2:10 PM  
Blogger urban-urchin said...

I know the feeling all too well.

10:39 PM  
Blogger Creative-Type Dad said...

Yup, I can relate.

And I can also relate to running around in vineyards with telephones too.

1:27 AM  
Blogger Jen said...

But you rock because you wrote anyway! And I always find that a gin and tonic helps me. But onely one, or I just start shopping online.

10:28 PM  
Blogger The Estrogen Files said...

'sokay. A gratituous WonderBaby shot is all it takes to satisify the masses...

12:33 AM  

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