Or, really, the title of this post should probably be ‘Stop Expecting to be Creative When You’re Sick, Anna’.

I’ve been sick for the past two weeks.  I think I’m starting to get better, or at least I can now sometimes go a half-hour at a stretch without coughing, versus the two-minute stretches that were the best I was managing half-a-week ago.  Huzza for progress!

So, mostly for the past two weeks I’ve been working a little bit, sleeping a lot, and spending the rest of my time trying to breathe while wallowing in a long fantasy series I’ve been enjoying lately.  The latest book came out (Bereket by Rachel Neumeier) and it was excellent, and I just wanted more of that.  So, after finishing that, I re-read a couple of the earlier books in the series that were related/similar (Rihasi & Keraunani (most of the books in the series are named after primary characters, and the series jumps around to a lot of different characters)).  And those are excellent books too and nice to re-read.

But, eventually, I get annoyed that I’m imbibing other people’s creativity and not producing any of my own.  Unfortunately, though, annoyance isn’t enough to be creative with.  I can want to work on my own writing, or to dive into some other project, but I’m still sick.  So, half of me is mentally yelling It’s May already and you’ve only written 12,000 words of fiction this year! while the other half of me is going…Eh.  So annoying.  (Note, I’m writing this post in the middle of May.  I’ll post it in a couple weeks since a previous, scheduled post just went up.)

So, this is sort of an experimental blog post.  Can I write non-fiction while my brain is looking about as inspiring as store-bought tapioca pudding (you know, the stuff that’s really just vanilla pudding with, if you’re lucky, about two tapioca pearls per square centimeter—yum (not))?  …It’s not looking too promising.

Unfortunately, energy seems to be a necessary component of creativity for me.  Which I knew already.  But I still really want it not to be true.  In fact, it’s really very inconvenient all around.  Because creative work isn’t the only sort of work I want or need to accomplish in my life.  There’s also laundry, gardening, the actual day-job, all sorts of other work that clearly requires energy in the very literal, able-to-move-my-body-around sense of the word.  Right now moving my body around is touch-and-go, but I’m definitely back to typing without a problem.  Why can’t typing energy be enough!  When I have energy-energy, I’ll also be really busy!  Why can’t now be the perfect in-between time for creative work?

So, instead I’m writing this very whiny blog post.  Part of the reason for this, of course, is that I’ve got this silly goal to post up one or two proper blog-posts a month, and the next one has to get written somehow.  Though of course this really is a silly goal considering that nobody is currently reading my blog…but it’s the principle of the thing!  The real goal is to eventually have a blog that people do read, and for that to happen there has to be something posted to read.  (I’ll never be the sort who posts multiple times per week (I am not a fast writer, period).  But once or twice a month is achievable (with practice) and not too awful.)

Of course, the real-real goal is for people to read my stories.  But, considering that my only currently-published stories are on this blog (and only three and a half of those so far), you can see how my mind goes in loops sometimes on the topic of what I ought to work on when it comes to this blog.  …Hence, this blog post.

The other question is, if people were reading my stories, what would they additionally be interested in reading as blog posts by me?  Not that the two things are necessarily directly related.  I myself like to read the blogs of authors whose stories I enjoy.  But sometimes I end up liking the blogs better than the stories.  Or sometimes the author posts very rarely and/or tersely, but still I stalk their blog obsessively because really I want to read new stories from them and in the meantime I’ll take whatever proof I can get that they’re still breathing.

Well.  Breathing and writing, ideally.

So, what is the proper ratio of story writing to blog-post writing?  Obviously, I’m not writing story right now, and, worse, I am an admitted very slow writer.  But, if I were stalking me as an author, I’d be definitely annoyed to only see, say, a new post only when the next new story is ready, considering that my current rate is one story a year…  Also, as mentioned, I can’t write story right now; I’m sick.  (I guess.  That still doesn’t seem like a good excuse…)

The other question, of course, is what to post about.  Does putting ‘Brain-Nook’ in the title, and then rambling for 1000 words or so count?

Ummm, maybe not?  Or, definitely yes for some bloggers.  Some bloggers are very entertaining ramblers, but I have a suspicion that I am not one of them.  At the very least I shouldn’t bank on it.

So, what are the options for content / what sort of content will check at least one box that a hypothetical daymooncrowmoon.com blog reader will come across and think, Yes, worth the blog post; Good. ?  …I’m not sure.  I need to make a list, maybe.  From my perspective, the options seem to be:

• writing about a hobby
• writing about something I like (preferably some media)
• writing about writing / writing advice
• writing about stuff going on in my life
• news and/or progress updates on my story-writing front

Okay, is anything on that list viable right now while a) I’m sick ; and b) I’ve already spent 900 words just rambling but maybe I can now tack something on on the end?

Hobbies: Actually, I find that hobbies are tricky as a topic for an author’s blog.  Sometimes a reader will look at a hobby post and think Why are they doing that instead of writing!?  (To which there are so many answers, and right now my brain is tapioca pudding.)  Sometimes a hobby post can be interesting if the hobby is related to the stories the author writes in some way.  (That sounds like a post for someone who can string two brains together, though.)  Or, the enthusiasm for a hobby can translate into a good post because enthusiasm is good and motivating…but that takes energy.  No hobby news or comments right now.

Something/media I like:  Again, enthusiasm is good, and endorsing something artistic has the benefit of conveying one’s taste, which, for people who stalk author blogs can be of interest even if the item under discussion isn’t.  But, as above, enthusiasm needs energy…so…My one-sentence endorsement of Bereket earlier is looking like that’s it for today.  (I really did enjoy it. (And, note: Not all books in that series read well stand-alone, but that one does, for anyone interested.))

Writing: Yeah, my brain is definitely not up for any interesting words of wisdom on that topic today.  (And of course readers are likely to be split on whether they care at all about that sort of thing or not—I love reading writer posts about writing, but that’s because I like to write…)  Also, I did already talk about writing a little bit, as in, I whined at you that I can’t seem to do it when I’m sick…but I suspect this does not count the way I’d like it to count.

Stuff in my life: Actually, in general, I’m not super keen about writing about things going on in my life in general.  If I get a bee in my bonnet about some particular event or topic then that’s fine and off I’ll go.  But, yeah, I’m not a memoirist, and I already mentioned that my skill for turning straight-up rambling into something entertaining is probably not where it’s at.  I’ve already told you I’ve been sick.  There.  What a fascinating life I live.  (Really, I included this on the list mostly because it shows up on a lot of other people’s blogs a lot, not because it’s that helpful of an item for me.)

Last option – News about stories-in-progress:  Have I got anything?  I’ve got three SSCS’s going right now (not right now, right now, or I wouldn’t be so whiny, of course), like I usually do.  Two of them have ‘garden’ in their work-folder title, but one’s sci-fi and one’s a sort of fairytale and nobody in either one of them has actually stuck their hands in the dirt so far.  But, probably, if you’ve seen the regular schedule of weekly garden posts on this blog it won’t be surprising that gardens and garden themes crop up in my brain a lot.

Actually, this is also sort of (sideways) where the title of this post came from.  Every author’s mind has lots of nooks and crannies (everybody else too (I hope) but we’re talking about an author blog at the moment).  The nooks and crannies are part of where the stories come out of, ideas that have been percolating for a long time, images that have been bouncing around, weird, short-circuiting connections.  And so one thing I’m curious about when I visit an author’s blog is just whether I can get a glimpse of what’s going on in there.  If it relates directly to a book or story, either in progress or already done, great!  But really all of it feeds into the stories at some point, those bubbling back corners.

Right now I’ve been sick and my bubbling back corners feel awfully quiet.  Nothing in this brain-nook.  Maaaybe something in that one?  Yes?  No?  Does anyone have a good idea for a flower or an herb that starts with ‘O’?  I need something that starts with ‘O’ soon.

But, yeah.  That’s about it.  Really hoping next week I’m not so sick.  And will have energy.  And the creativity will come pouring back in.  Wouldn’t that be splendid, gold, and lovely?