Tuesday, 9 July 2013

Pour No Sugar on Me


I wrote not a word on the weekend. I slept a lot, though. Sugar fuzz. I indulged in such dietary naughtiness the day before my writing day that the best I could do on Sunday morning was lie on the sofa and listen to David Usher. I fell asleep to Bryan Ferry in the afternoon.

The day wasn’t a total waste, however. I learned something that I’ve always known but consistently deny in the face of immediate gratification: sugar is bad for creativity. I proved it to myself yet again because I started to pull out of the fog at lunchtime, then I downed a whole can of San Pellegrino grapefruit soda and promptly had to take a long nap. The pop wasn’t even that good – it tasted like I was drinking marmalade. Worse, it started me second-guessing about my writing. Stuck in a chemical funk, my will to create actually dissolved, so I let it go for the day in hope of a sunnier outlook when I finally emerged from the mire.

It took a full 24 hours. The socked-in sense lingered well into my Monday; it began to lift yesterday evening and this morning I woke up clear-headed and hopeful again. Feeling more like writer than a fraud and thank the gods for that turn of mind. I brought the Gatsby soundtrack to work, which is proving to be a horrible distraction but I will persist because I need the infusion to get me through the worst day of my week. I’m off on Friday, with no commitments beyond cramming three episodes of The Newsroom before season 2 premieres on Sunday, so I’ll be brewing more Gold Rush and seeing if I can make something of a story that, on the weekend, I feared was beyond my capability to write.

My mission until then is to steer clear of the white stuff.

4 comments:

  1. I've been working really hard this week to do healthy breakfast/lunch/supper and fruity snacks in between instead of munching crackers and/or chocolate on my commute home. I was getting in the habit of buying a Kit Kat (the chunky variety) and scarfing it before supper. Sugar makes me lethargic too and causes loss of focus. I hear you. I really do. The white stuff is the devil. But wine, I make an exception. Creativity doth flow with the grapes of the Gods.

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  2. So..., do you think Will and Mackenzie will get together this season?

    Hi, Sweetie :-) Excellent blog!!

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    1. *gasp* Bro!!! Oh, so glad to see you!! And I don't know about Will and Mac; I think the tension between them makes them more powerful as a news team, but they're both suffering on a personal level so maybe they should just admit defeat and go for it. We'll get a taste of it on Sunday, when season 2 premieres!

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