BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I ROCK AND POSTED (yeah, doesn't rhyme)
Helllllo everyone!
Much apologies all around because of my absence latley. I don't really have an excuse except for writers block. I'm still not completley inspired but i'll give my best shot.
School. The one word which ever kid from 11 to 18 really does not want to hear. It's deffanitley (spelling?) not something I want to hear come late August. When I start seeing the back to school ads, my mind instantly goes into denial. I think to myself "Nope, didn't hear it. Just change the channel and be done with it." Then when really late August rolls around, I just dive deeper into denial. It's not a fun thing going back to school (especially when you're going to a new school or high school...ugh.) Because I think everyone reading this knows the feeling of "Oh shit i'm in a new place I don't know anybody or what i'm supposed to do." I know i've had that feeling. What made me want to fight back (somewhat) valiantly against writers block, was the fact that I was talking to my friend Rodrigo a couple days ago and we were reminiscing (spelling?) about when he transfered to Strath Haven. I remember my homeroom teacher (Dan Connor's mom!) said "hey everyone shut up for a minute." (I kid you not)"We have a new student in our class his name is Rodrigo." He had that look on his face "Oh shit I don't know anyone here or what i'm supposed to do." Dun Dun Dunnnnn... He told me that he fought is way through the first day being really quiet and trying to observe the other kids in the other classes and just stay alive.
The kids that I hang out with at lunch generally sit near the enterence just because that's where we sat on the first day and dammit we're not moving. Anyway, Rodrigo walked down into the lunchroom and had that same look on his face. So I yelled to him (and I quote) "HEY ROD! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE AND SIT DOWN." He looked over and recognized me from homeroom so he came and sat down. We re-arranged some people and started asking him about where he came from and what it was like there. Basiclly we all knew, without looking at eachother that we needed to make this kid feel comfterable even if we end up hating him. So we were getting along just dandy and then we started talking about music. For those that know me, that is my thing. Music. When we realized that we both had the same common interests (metal, thrash metal. Psychadellic rock.) I knew that he was sitting here for life.
So my point is here, if you could distinguish it through all my writers block induced junk: If everyone out there just extended that little itsy bitsy bit of courtesy then I think we would not have problems such as gang fights or maybe even something more extreme. Whew, that was a tough colum/ post and i'll try to post more often and work through my writers block.
Much apologies all around because of my absence latley. I don't really have an excuse except for writers block. I'm still not completley inspired but i'll give my best shot.
School. The one word which ever kid from 11 to 18 really does not want to hear. It's deffanitley (spelling?) not something I want to hear come late August. When I start seeing the back to school ads, my mind instantly goes into denial. I think to myself "Nope, didn't hear it. Just change the channel and be done with it." Then when really late August rolls around, I just dive deeper into denial. It's not a fun thing going back to school (especially when you're going to a new school or high school...ugh.) Because I think everyone reading this knows the feeling of "Oh shit i'm in a new place I don't know anybody or what i'm supposed to do." I know i've had that feeling. What made me want to fight back (somewhat) valiantly against writers block, was the fact that I was talking to my friend Rodrigo a couple days ago and we were reminiscing (spelling?) about when he transfered to Strath Haven. I remember my homeroom teacher (Dan Connor's mom!) said "hey everyone shut up for a minute." (I kid you not)"We have a new student in our class his name is Rodrigo." He had that look on his face "Oh shit I don't know anyone here or what i'm supposed to do." Dun Dun Dunnnnn... He told me that he fought is way through the first day being really quiet and trying to observe the other kids in the other classes and just stay alive.
The kids that I hang out with at lunch generally sit near the enterence just because that's where we sat on the first day and dammit we're not moving. Anyway, Rodrigo walked down into the lunchroom and had that same look on his face. So I yelled to him (and I quote) "HEY ROD! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE AND SIT DOWN." He looked over and recognized me from homeroom so he came and sat down. We re-arranged some people and started asking him about where he came from and what it was like there. Basiclly we all knew, without looking at eachother that we needed to make this kid feel comfterable even if we end up hating him. So we were getting along just dandy and then we started talking about music. For those that know me, that is my thing. Music. When we realized that we both had the same common interests (metal, thrash metal. Psychadellic rock.) I knew that he was sitting here for life.
So my point is here, if you could distinguish it through all my writers block induced junk: If everyone out there just extended that little itsy bitsy bit of courtesy then I think we would not have problems such as gang fights or maybe even something more extreme. Whew, that was a tough colum/ post and i'll try to post more often and work through my writers block.
posted by nervchild at 5:53 PM
3 Comments:
Glad to see your blog back in action! Writer's block most definitely does suck.
I know what you mean about a new school. You express very well what I often remember feeling.
Don't worry. In a few months, you're gonna own that place.
In my case, the back to school ads were even worse. My birthday is in mid-September, and my getting pumped up for all the potential loot was usually quickly deflated by the realization that most presents would be school supplies and dorky new clothes.
P.S. Wasn't that subtle spelling correction annoying? Congrats on getting "reminiscing" right, though. (Said the tiresome old guy.)
I so remember the depression induced by the Back to School ads, which start to appear about August 1st!
As a mom, though, I think my favorite TV spot ever is the CVS (?) ad set to a Christmas carol background: "It's the most wonderful time of the year..." It shows a father pushing a cart, jumping and clicking his heels in mid-air, as his children trudge behind him down the aisles collecting school supplies.
Late August was a hard time when I was a corporate-lawyer-working mom: Camps are done, day care centers close, but I had briefs to prepare for all the judges set to return from their summer vacations.
Now that the kids are older, and my work schedule is more fluid, I really love this late August laziness. There's so many things to do with older kids, and you don't have to bring along a diaper bag.
And, as to writer's block: I devote one lecture each semester to that for my creative writing students. Here's a very successful exercise: Sit quietly; take slow breaths until you can follow 2 full inhalations and exhalations without your mind wandering. Then, allow your mind to come to the answer to 2 questions: (1) What am I writing for? and (2) What work do I want to accomplish right now?
There are no wrong answers, obviously. Your answers might be: I am writing to entertain/I am writing to discover what I think ... and I want to write a blog entry / I want to write the scene where the mother character confronts her boss ... etc.
Once you know your 2 intentions, you can write that day.
Matt- true -about school I mean. Everybody says childhood is the happiest time of your life, but when pushed, most, 99% anyway, say they hated school years until, oh, sophomore year in college.... ANOTHER REASON TO HATE SCHOOL: Every September when Q and I would be sitting on the porch of the cottage I'd say that we should have bought a cottage thirty-forty years ago when they were a lot cheaper, rented the cottage out for July and August (which would have paid the mortgage) and come up in September - the best time of the year in the Berkshires. Q would growl, "We had three kids who had to go to school."
Re Writer's Block: I know a professional (as contrasted to a "creative" writer) who said that what with computers there is no need to have writer's block. He said he just sat down and scribbled away -then deleted. The process would get him started. I think it was John D. McDonald who said he always stopped at the end of the day in the middle of a sentence so that the next day he would just start...
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