Why is the well dry?
Our house is built on low ground. We knew this, but still decided to put in a basement. The floor of the basement sits inches above a water table, sometimes below. To keep our basement dry, we have a system of holey pipes or "drainage tile" embedded into the perimeter of the foundation. Some tiles sit under the basement floor. All the water collected in the pipes flow into a sump crock at the corner of the basement. In this crock is a sump pump that pumps the water up from the basement and out to a drain.
During the spring when the snow melts, water constantly flows into the crock, sounding like a horse emptying his bladder. I often go down to the basement to do laundry and never think about the tile, crock or the sump pump doing their intended job, keeping our basment dry.
Until yesterdy. I lugged down a load of laundry and noticed the quiet in the basement. It was eerie. I feared the worst. Had the system stopped working and water was backing up into the crock? When water reaches the tile, there is no sound of water falling.
With trepidation, I went to the crock and lifted the lid. To my total horror, the crock was dry!
I gazed at the sight beneath my feet. The edges of the tile showed no sign of any water. The pump sat on the bottom of the crock surrounded by dried silt. Thinking of the weather the past months reminded me that we hadn't had any rain. The ground was dry and no water flowed into the crock.
There was no water. The crock was dry.
And so it is with my writing. The crock is dry. There are no ideas flowing into my brain. There are no ideas flowing onto my keyboard. You cannot pump water out of a dry crock.
Why has my well of ideas gone dry? I have been trying for months to bring back the magic I had when thoughts flowed from my brain to my fingers so fast that it was hard to keep up with typing.
Lately though, nothing has flowed from my fingers. I have tried many different exercises to bring back the magic. I am reading novels, writer's how-to books, motivation books (and quoting them digustingly). I am trying to write small essays like this one. If something in the news gets me riled up, I'll write a letter to the editor. Heck, I've even tried writing smut, ...er erotica.
But no water has been flowing into my crock. There is nothing to pump out.
Do I wait for the rainy season to come back? Will it? Do I keep trying to prime the pump?
During the spring when the snow melts, water constantly flows into the crock, sounding like a horse emptying his bladder. I often go down to the basement to do laundry and never think about the tile, crock or the sump pump doing their intended job, keeping our basment dry.
Until yesterdy. I lugged down a load of laundry and noticed the quiet in the basement. It was eerie. I feared the worst. Had the system stopped working and water was backing up into the crock? When water reaches the tile, there is no sound of water falling.
With trepidation, I went to the crock and lifted the lid. To my total horror, the crock was dry!
I gazed at the sight beneath my feet. The edges of the tile showed no sign of any water. The pump sat on the bottom of the crock surrounded by dried silt. Thinking of the weather the past months reminded me that we hadn't had any rain. The ground was dry and no water flowed into the crock.
There was no water. The crock was dry.
And so it is with my writing. The crock is dry. There are no ideas flowing into my brain. There are no ideas flowing onto my keyboard. You cannot pump water out of a dry crock.
Why has my well of ideas gone dry? I have been trying for months to bring back the magic I had when thoughts flowed from my brain to my fingers so fast that it was hard to keep up with typing.
Lately though, nothing has flowed from my fingers. I have tried many different exercises to bring back the magic. I am reading novels, writer's how-to books, motivation books (and quoting them digustingly). I am trying to write small essays like this one. If something in the news gets me riled up, I'll write a letter to the editor. Heck, I've even tried writing smut, ...er erotica.
But no water has been flowing into my crock. There is nothing to pump out.
Do I wait for the rainy season to come back? Will it? Do I keep trying to prime the pump?
posted by ~~Olivia | 8:03 PM
4 Comments:
Sometimes you just have to let the well re-fill. As with the crock, when the rain comes, it will eventually fill with water again. But you can't push it to rain (although you can offer up lots of prayer). I'm a firm believer that you also can't push yourself to write when the ideas are gone. Taking a few days off, a few weeks, heck, even a month is okay. Our creativity needs a break once in awhile.
BTW - this essay is GREAT.
Good post, Olivia. I wish I had a solution for you. I've recently gone through the same thing as you know. I found playing endless games of "Bejeweled 2" seem to have sparked my creativity again.
Good luck! I wish I had some sage advice but you're writing essays, you're blogging--that counts! It may not be what you want to be working on but as long as you're writing something, ideas will begin flowing again soon!
We are not alone
http://hollylisle.com/fm/Articles/wc1-3.html
Post a Comment
<< Home