I rarely suffer from the dread disease known as Writer’s Block, at least not in the conventional sense. The world is filled with blog fodder so it is not at all difficult to locate a topic. The issues I have aside from having a sick and twisted sense of humor are a bit different than not being able to find the words to put down. It is easy to apply pen to paper.
No what bothers me with more frequency than I care to think about is my distaste and disgust with the words that I write. The moments where I look at the screen and silently read something that is stilted, awkward and ineloquent. Moments where I scrunch up my face and shake my head because I know that I am capable of producing something far better.
Moments of utter hypocrisy. Why? Because I teach my children that as long as you tried hard it is ok to have a bad day. I teach them that sometimes they don’t have to hit it out of the park, that a lay up is worth as much as a dunk. But I don’t always follow my own rules, my advice is best served to others because I don’t listen to anyone let alone myself.
So what does this have to do with my pal Cookie Monster? It is simple really. When I get frustrated and feel like I am slamming my head against the wall I look for distractions. Simple things that take the edge off and make me smile.
Cookie Monster is a hero. He is a stud. Dude can walk into any bar/party/event and be guaranteed that half the women there will fight for his attention.Not bad for someone with big googly eyes, a scratchy voice and a body who will only know a six pack by virtue of standing next to a refrigerator.
Cookie Monster isn’t complicated. He knows what he likes and isn’t bashful about trying to obtain. I support that sort of confidence. I am a fan of those that are willing to chase their dreams. Doesn’t hurt that I consider Cookie to be a contemporary of mine, after all we burst onto the scene at the same time.
If you think about it, it is kind of inspiring. Forty-two years of eating cookies and whatever else he can shove down his gaping maw and not one single health issue. Hell, I admit to being jealous. I can’t eat like that anymore, not without paying for it.
But I digress. The whole point of this post is that when you are frustrated because you can’t find the words or don’t like the ones that are you are using all you need is a brief distraction. This was mine and now if you’ll excuse me I have to return to the work that actually pays the bills.
Thanks again Cookie for being a good friend, you have helped me more than you know.
C is for cookie and that’s good enough for me!
@ginidietrich And how. Can’t ever get enough of the good cookies.
@AdrienneSmith Hi Adrienne. The most important person in blogging is always the author of the blog. If you aren’t feeling up to it than rarely is it worth putting out content, or so I believe.
Sometimes it is quite useful to take a step back and relax.
Hey Jack, great topic.. I sort of ran into this same thing this week. You see, I didn’t write my Monday post.
I had spent the weekend with family and without going into any long drawn out explanation, my brother had shared with me a letter my Dad had written him back in 1997. He’s been gone now for eight years. His words were so heavy on my mind that I couldn’t put them to rest in order to crank something out for my readers. So instead of beating myself up over it, I just decided not to write anything at all. I didn’t want to write something just to write. So thanks for this reminder. I always enjoy reading what you have to share.
Thanks for your honesty! I appreciate you Jack.
Adrienne
@Lori Thanks for the head’s up. Checking that right now.
@Lori Hi Lori. Writing is a skill and if you practice it becomes easier to do. Blogging is the same way. The more practice you have the easier it becomes. I have been doing this for so long now it is not hard to produce content. It would be inaccurate to say that every post is perfect but that is ok with me.
I use this place as a cyber sandbox and I am willing to let the errors show up because it is how I learn and become a better writer.
You are probably much better at this than you realize.
@AnnieAndreHacks Yeah, Cookie doesn’t have much of a shape to worry about. More importantly the dude never worries about his pants getting too tight.
We are usually are own worst critics. It is really easy for me to get irritated with myself when I don’t hit the mark I set. But that is because I know what I am capable of. Still, I try hard to live by the same rules/advice I give to them.
@Twinfamy Baby laughter is an instant cure, especially when it belongs to your own kids.
@Shonali Glad you liked it. It works well for me, but I am Jewish so Lent doesn’t really apply to me. 😉
P.S. Your Tweet button isn’t working Jack! I’ll do it via Hootsuite, but just in case you didn’t notice…
Hi Jack,
One thing I can always count on here in the Blogosphere – I can look in my Reader and see a new post by TheJackB. Thanks for sharing how you do it (and that video!) – you’re very good at this!
Since I started blogging, the fear of running out of life topics 😮 has kept me writing post ahead of time. I’m not a deadline -loving sort of writer – it’s why I didn’t choose to go into journalism. But lately things are coming to me more easily. Take Friday for instance. I was shopping for groceries and I heard a song on the PA. It put me back and got me thinking. I came home and wrote the post which jumped the line-up and ended up getting published today. That’s a record for me. And you do it every day! 😮 I’ve got a long way to go to get there, but I “get” it – such fun huh!
Lori
Me Like Cookie Monster except he made me gain 10 pounds over christmas from identifying homemade chocolate chip cookies to eat.
I suffer from the same syndrome as you. I try to teach the kids to not be so hard on themselves as long as they try their bestest ever!!. But then by my actions alone i say “do as i say , not as i do” And get down on myself for not reaping better results from my actions.. Funny how life is.
@TheJackB I’m ROFLing at “giving up guilt for Lent.” Next year I’m going to try that.
@TheJackB @Twinfamy Thanks. Yeah, I agree. I think we get way too serious sometimes when we’re writing–it’s especially ironic when I’m trying to write something funny and I’m getting all mad at myself. Sometimes you just need to force yourself to let go. One thing I do is tickle my kids. I can’t get mad if I’m hearing baby laughter. It’s impossible.
@Shonali I’d like to say that I gave up guilt for Lent but that would make me feel guilty for lying. 😉 Every now and then got to find time for guilty pleasures- we only live once.
@Twinfamy I find that anything that makes me laugh helps to make the writing juices begin to flow more freely. That is a great line you just shared, “Eternal optimist and cookie enthusiast.”
Thank you for sharing that – I haven’t watched Cookie Monster in so long, that brought back great memories, e.g. when I could actually watch TV without feeling guilty about everything I was NOT doing…!
Love it. Had a little bout with “the block” myself, so I feel you. I get in my own way more often than anyone, but it’s pretty impossible to get upset watching Mr. Monster, eternal optimist and cookie enthusiast.