Reporting from the Doldrums

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In mid-March my tenth book for children and youth was published.

I am immensely proud of Creatively Human: Why We Imagine, Make and Innovate and enjoyed the two years of researching, writing and editing it. And grateful to Orca Book Publishers who did such a great job of supporting and marketing the project.

I had a lovely launch at my local independent bookstore Windowseat Books. And was fortunate to receive some nice reviews.

But then the air went out of my writing balloon. And nothing could get it airborne again. I have files of unfinished work, manuscripts of unsold picture book stories, pages of 'germs' of ideas. But very little draws me back to my desk in any focussed way. Even copies of old journals and tear sheets from newspapers and magazines of my work aren't enough to convince me that I have much to say.

I do still write - old habits die hard - in snatches and fits and starts. I hunt and peck at my keyboard - yesterday on a 100-word Drabble on the topic of 'melody' - thanks to the monthly prompt provided by a local group. And drafted a 350-word piece 'Weavils' - which I will add to a file of 'Memory in a Moment' prose poetry pieces I am compiling. 

I  have a number of writing peers who love my work and encourage me to continue. But often, I just can't be bothered. In part because these days I spend so little time with children,  other than with my very bright 15-year old grandson who delivered a long lecture yesterday on how locks work - and can be picked - and how to remove the venom from a snake. Which might explain why my projects for kids and youth have lost their buoyancy.  

But I realized yesterday that so much of what I do is connected to a literary life of one kind or another. I am constantly jotting down notes of book titles, author names, source journals, links to online writing, writing techniques, quotes, excerpts... I read articles, novels, essays and short stories - most recently a compelling road trip piece 'America Inside Out' by James Parker in an August 2023 issue of The Atlantic, assorted items from my daily New Yorker feed, stories from the 2025 edition of The Best Canadian Short Stories edited by Stephen Beatty, The Book of Longings by Sue Kidd Monk - my monthly book club's June selection. 

  

So I am now using a notebook to keep all this in one place. Booklists. Recommendations of authors to follow. New germs of ideas.  Writing techniques picked up online and in discussion with other readers and writers. Records of the few bits and bobs I do write.

And maybe I can inject enough air into the thing, to launch something new which will keep me going just a little longer.


Comments

  1. Sylvia14 July 2025 at 16:13

    Been there... am there! Tired of false starts and bad ideas I decided to let it go, forget about writing and focus on the family history I promised my daughters for Christmas. Then voila! Old family stories began popping up like mushrooms and I'm writing them as fast as I remember them - not the next novel I was hoping for, but who knows where it might lead.
    It's probably not what I should say, but knowing such a skilled and prolific writer as you can also find yourself in writing doldrums gives me hope!
    Thanks for this blog, Lois.

    ReplyDelete
  2. island Crone16 July 2025 at 16:00

    Ha, somehow i am responding with Island Crone. You know who I am...and of course you are in the Doldrums my friend, their must be a better word for it...that collapse after a high point in your life...writing Create was a huge project, took the stuffing out... you had the high and now the low, what goes down also goes up. It will happen as it does for all of us, suddenly you will be inspired and we'll be there cheering you along. as for your blog I love all your literary connections, the book clubs and other literary activities...you've pictured the life of a writer very well, the doubts and the loves ...the life of an author...surely a goal for many...keep on inspiring new writers..., Liz

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