Big cups of tea and restoration … blogvember post the tenth
10 Nov 2012

This mug is sometimes only just big enough
C.S Lewis once said ‘you can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me.’
Mostly at present, it is the tea. There is precious little reading time. The essential of tea is a constant.
Today is the first time since starting #blogvember that I wished I didn’t have to write something. I re-read what I wrote yesterday, found lots of things to edit. Worried about the challenge I had set myself, the nothingness of the diabolo blanco, the never ending tired has set in. In a killer combination, a huge week was rounded out by a very disturbed and restless night. No one slept well. Everyone woke up cranky. We struggled through our morning. I only managed half the things I wanted to do.
Yet, here I am. Writing. I have to write everyday and not just because of this #blogvember business. This is the reality. I will always be time poor. I will always have competing priorities. I will never again have the luxury of starting to write in the early evening after sleeping well and writing until Lateline starts. I can’t go back to that timetable for a long, long time, if ever. This is it. Writing on the side. I returned to a piece of paper in the back of my diary. It is a piece from McSweeney’s Internet Tendency by Colin Nissan called ‘The Ultimate Guide To Writing Better Than You Normally Do’. Here is an extract.
WRITE EVERY DAY
Writing is a muscle. Smaller than a hamstring and slightly bigger than a bicep, and it needs to be exercised to get stronger. Think of your words as reps, your paragraphs as sets, your pages as daily workouts. Think of your laptop as a machine like the one at the gym where you open and close your inner thighs in front of everyone, exposing both your insecurities and your genitals. Because that is what writing is all about.
This is exactly what it is like. If you don’t practice, you will never get any good. Along the way you will expose yourself, and you can only hope it will be for the good.
Nov 12, 2012 @ 21:03:10
That I can improve my writing by doing it is something I think about, whenever I think I ought to be putting words together. That you will eventually be able to write until Lateline comes on… well, I’d wager a modest amount on it. Sleeping well: I can’t help with that, not until I’ve managed it myself more than once a quarter.
Nov 11, 2012 @ 14:04:26
I appreciate this post. Writing, even or especially when you don’t feel like it is important. You produced a worthwhile post despite not wanting to write.
That C.S Lewis quote featured as the tagline for my old INk Paper Pen blog. The quite still resonates with me even though the blog has been put to rest. Good luck with the rest of BLogvember!
Nov 15, 2012 @ 14:10:54
I was so excited to read about your new project! http://therhythmmethod.wordpress.com/2012/11/04/blog-introverts-part-two/
It’s a winning combination the two of you I think. I am reading with interest.
xox
Nov 10, 2012 @ 18:09:28
Great post with a fabulous quote. I definitely need to practice more x
Nov 10, 2012 @ 18:38:11
Thank you. Everyone can improve their writing, that’s what’s so great about it. xox
Nov 10, 2012 @ 18:40:50
Natural talent has to be there too though!
Nov 15, 2012 @ 14:08:35
It’s like clay, it can be moulded.
Working on it, is very satisfying.
xo