I enjoy writing when it rains, the sound of it falling and that cozy feeling that no one will come to the front door and interrupt. Unfortunately, we haven't had rain for seven weeks, a real oddity in Louisiana where we get sixty inches a year and big thunderstorms in summer. Add on to that the week long temperatures over one hundred degrees. Our backyard weather station registered 109 last week. Yeah, we're used to heat here but not prolonged heat like this. One person I know remarked that it seemed to be the Covid seclusion all over again because no one was out on the streets, no dog walkers or early morning joggers. Sure, we have AC in our cars but even buckling a seat belt results in burned fingertips, and the car doesn't cool off much before getting to your destination.
So what does this have to do with writing? I should be hard at work on the latest Longleigh Chronicle, A Gentleman and a Scholar, but seem to have the same malaise that I suffered from during Covid. No urge to be creative. During Covid, I managed to complete only one painting and abandoned The Aussie Sinner half-written. It wasn't writer's block. I knew what I wanted to write but lost the will to do it. Usually, I have a new title out in January, but that date came and went with no forward progress. If some of my worried fans hadn't asked me when the new book would be out, it might still be in limbo. For them, I got back to work, slowly at first and got it done.
What did a long hot spell have in common with Covid? Isolation. I found I needed to be around people, my art group, book club, my fellow guides at Shadows on the Teche, etc. for sheer stimulation. Unlike some authors, I am not an introvert. I love the meet and greet and being out in public When cut off from interaction, I fade and begin to doubt if I have any talent at all, so why bother. I'm not sure if this is unique to me or if others suffer from this as well.
Of course in Louisiana, we do have hurricanes that cut the power off for days. It is hard to write by candlelight even if you have a power backup on the computer--which will only last a few hours. My admiration goes to people in the distant past that wrote whole tomes using candles and quills or dip pens. I did write my first book by hand and then typed it on a Brothers Electric Typewriter. Let me tell you, using a computer is way easier once you get the hang of it.
Then, there are other summer interruptions--vacations, two this year, one to a family reunion at Dollywood (which is lovely-you go Dolly Parton) and another to Hawaii. Maybe more on that later, but they do take chunks out of your writing time and interrupt your writing rhythm which for me is get on the computer in the early afternoon and keep butt in chair until I have written a thousand words or must go to make dinner, which ever comes first. Hard to get that back after lazing around in paradise for a while.
Hopefully, the heat and drought will break. Social life will pick up again in September, and I will feel motivated to write.
