In the Write Mood

It's a bit odd how I feel sometimes as if I have nothing to say when I sit down and open up this blog, but I've always got so much on my mind that the instant I start to write anything, it goes in a direction I wasn't attempting to go or the focus seems completely somewhere else. It still works and it still fits, but it isn't always the way I'd intended it to go. With that said, my imperfect perfection seems to come out as soon as I start to write here. Sometimes paper is easier, but this flows easier sometimes than it does on paper when I'm constantly trying to catch my thoughts since there are so many going on at once that I can't keep them straight and can't keep the focus going. Perhaps thats why Virginia Woolf was so successful with her stream of consciousness form, since other people's minds are constantly running in circles as mine often does. Which is essentially what I'm doing now and what sometimes happens while I sit down to write.

I remember having to do a stream of consciousness-type writing when I took a course on Virginia Woolf's work in college. One of the best classes I took at UW-Madison without a doubt, but it was an amazing assignment. I remember sitting on Bascom Hill as I wrote about people walking up and down the hill to their classes and commenting on how many people are on their cell phones and seem too busy for the real world. Also, commenting on how we're all connected, but disconnected at the same time. You see, UW-Madison has a feel that everyone is a part of a family. The Badger family. We're one big sea of red on game days and it's as if we're all at a very large family reunion, meeting old family and re-connecting with those we haven't seen in awhile. But, when we're all going to classes or running between classes to go somewhere else, there always seems to be a bit of a disconnect between the family that we're all a part of and the sense that we're all doing our own more important thing. A disconnected connection of friends and family? It seems so odd to say, but at the same time, its oxymoronic meaning seems to fit. Just a few thoughts...

Most times, however, I have to be in the mood to sit down and write a poem or to have what I would consider to be an introspective thought. I have to be in the right mood, and in the right atmosphere and finding the right atmosphere is definitely a challenge. Evenings always work better and the light needs to be dim. I need a specific kind of music or no music at all. Coffee usually helps, but isn't entirely necessary. Perhaps this is all a mind game I play with myself in order to feel better about the ability of my writing. Sometimes I used to feel the same way about reading Philosophy articles, but then I got in the habit of reading them with just certain music and that made reading them so much more efficient. I'd always put myself in the mood to read them just by listening to a mix of Sigur Ros songs on my iPod.

I need to get back in the habit of writing, that's for certain, but I have mixed feelings on the process. I've heard that some people find it great practice if they grab a notebook and start to write as soon as they wake up in the morning. Others find that a time schedule like write from 2p-3p everyday seems to make sense since they have set aside the time and know that they will write at that interval. Still others find that whenever they feel inspired is the best way to just jump in and get their best writing down on paper (or computer). I'm sure I'll attempt any number of these theories to see which works for me, but mostly I'm thinking a combination of these may be what is best. Trial and Error. That's the only way to find out anything in life.