It’s Write on Wednesday daring me, us, but I am empty, have stopped thinking and then I come across Mark Kermode’s coining of a new word: Bayification – I have pinched this link shamelessly from altering labyrinth . I don’t usually do this, but I am a great fan of Mark Kermode (I listen to his film reviews on my iPod when driving across England for work) and listening to this I just love this word: Bayification. It sums up what work sometimes does to me and prevents me from writing: stops me from thinking about the things that are important to me, clutters my braincells and washes out any creativity I may have. There’s too much noise out there, too many demands, too many pulls and pushes and everyone is blowing things up and there are too many telephone calls and e-mails. That, in combination with a heavy cold, sums up my day and the week so far. Apologies Becca, no Write on Wednesday for me, everything is too difficult at the moment, let alone reviewing my unfinished novel! But I did write for about two hours last night, heavily sedated with Nurofens, now that’s a feat. I’ll have a look at it later and see if it makes sense. And then I’ll carry on reading Barak Obama’s very lucid exposition of why life makes sense to him. He does not seem to have any fears whatsoever, either about his writing or about what he thinks.
Sometimes life piles on too much for us – I’ve been there! I hope things lighten up for you soon 🙂
And I hope we get that fearless man for our leader next month!
By: Becca on October 16, 2008
at 2:37 am
I had such a phase short while ago. Now I seem to be on a reative spree again!
http://firmlyrooted.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-take-dare.html
By: gautami tripathy on October 16, 2008
at 2:40 pm
Good word and an apt description of how distractions just sap all the creative energy away. Hope you feel better soon and glad to hear you’re enjoying the Obama.
By: Pete on October 16, 2008
at 7:34 pm
Interesting post. I think this describes so many creative people. Too much noise. Hope you are feeling better today.
By: Karen H. on October 16, 2008
at 11:00 pm
Hope you’re feeling better. This is my first day without brain-fuzzing over-the-counter sinus meds – ugh. I am giddy with delight. (oh, may it last!) And your sentence about things going on out there, including “things blowing up” struck me – omg, yes, it is distracting! So first, feel better.
And, I wonder what you wrote for two hours? Excellent that you pushed through to do that! Cheers!
By: oh on October 17, 2008
at 12:12 am
You might enjoy the comments below about Obama and contemporary fiction writers by James Alan McPherson (introduction to the current issue of Ploughshares at http://www.pshares.org ):
“It might be said that the variety of young writers in this issue of Ploughshares are “neighboring.” If there is a common thread in the stories here, I think it must be the communal effort to gain perspective on the highly complex areas of our fuzzy and fragmented American reality. We seem to live our lives against a backdrop of emotional fragmentation and failure of purpose: the economy, the various wars in the Middle East, the decay of rights movements (civil rights, feminism, economic help for those in poverty, sexual choice in marriage). In recent months, the media has been almost obsessed in its explanation of the appeal of Barack Obama. He seems to move beyond being black, a certified political liberal or conservative. His appeal seems to be spiritual but not necessarily religious. And he has inspired the enthusiastic support of a tremendous number of Americans, not all of them black or young. Many years ago, one of my mentors, the critic and novelist Albert Murray, coined a term that has kept inspiring me for the past thirty years. When the civil rights movement began drifting towards separatism and Black Nationalism, Murray argued in one of his books, The Omni-Americans, that black Americans derive from a very long and very deep association with the racial and cultural traditions of this country. Murray argued that the exploration of these influences might enable black people to look beyond nationalism and to recognize, if not embrace, the traditions of other groups within the American cultural environment. The result of this “integration” would be a newer and culturally complex kind of American. Such reflexive embraces would make members of the group more receptive to the mores of other Americans.
In his appeal to the political as well as to the emotional quests of people from a great number of groups, Obama is clearly the Omni-American that Albert Murray had in mind. One source of his appeal is that he thinks and operates beyond race and class and sexual orientation—beyond all the social categories that function as substitutes for a transcendent American identity. I believe that a great many people can sense this spiritual transcendence in him, and can project onto him their own desires for transcendence.”
By: DeWitt Henry on October 17, 2008
at 2:10 pm
The name Mark Kermode reminds me of a book that’s been sitting on my shelf for ages: Shakespeare’s language.
Hope you have a relaxing weekend. 🙂
By: Matthew on October 18, 2008
at 3:48 am
Apologies for the late response, blame it on the nurofen! thank you all for your kind words and commisserations. Today’s better, I’ve closed the work computer and will not touch it again till Monday.
Becca: yes, I am more and more taken in by his book – it is wonderfully straightforward and lucid writing.
gautami: yes, I’ve noticed you are a very happy bunny again – lots of interesting posts!
Pete: thank you!
oh: yes much better now.
Karen H: see previous
DeWitt: yes, Obama is very inspiring in his writing also. Thank you for this long quote.
Matt: not sure about the connection between Shakespeare’s language and Mark Kermode… yes, I’m determined to be relaxed !
By: seachanges on October 18, 2008
at 5:05 pm