Last week a good friend told me that he was unable to write because his life kept getting in the way. I admitted that I too was in a bit of a funk when it came to working on my next novel.   I saw Tom Bird over the weekend and he just doesn’t accept these excuses.  But our lives are more complicated than Tom’s aren’t they?  Shouldn’t we be able to make excuses for not writing?

I looked up Funk (though not in my Funk and Wagnall’s).  The 1st definition is “cowering fear; state of great fright or terror”.  Now isn’t that interesting.    The 2nd definition is “a dejected mood”, which is more what I had in mind when I used the word, but that first definition is really telling.   

When we find reasons not to write are we just afraid that we are not worthy?  That we are not up to the task?  That our writing will only lead to frustration and rejection?

Tom Bird tells us to be joyful in our craft, that there is nothing to be afraid of as long as we discipline ourselves to release our inner author at an appropriate time and place on a regular basis.  This is a hard lesson to learn and the FUNK makes it even harder for us to practice what Tom preaches.

Of course,  as an author, when one of my characters gets overwhelmed I just write them out of it.   Perhaps that will work.  I’ll just sit down and write my way out of this no matter how funky the times or the words may be.