It turns out that sadness is not the only creative blocker; add to that listlessness, tiredness and physical neck pain as other potential sources of distraction.  Happiness is still the preferred state for creativity, but just about anything life throws can derail the creative process or at least slow it down; this week it was the above.  Thank goodness for the power of the deadline, proofing to be the driver for most tasks, also the commitment I am determined to honour. But they are not always enough. This week’s added difficulty was to challenge the perception that there may be nothing to write about for this instalment and right on cue the bad angel was there telling me that ‘it was okay to skip it for a week or wait until Sunday when I might feel better’.  Thankfully the good angel was quickly on side; ‘when there is nothing to write about, write anyway and make it good’. Nice save, good angel.

Writing stems from many things it is not just the emotional, often it is about when inspiration strikes and how. On occasion inspiration will be stimulated by accident, more commonly it is by design. Books would be the natural resource for novelists where not only is there, obvious pleasure from a good book,  but also inspiration to emulate the success and artistry of an admired author or story. For a would be script writer there is  the addition of the usually small but sometimes large screen, plus theatre to draw inspiration from. At least that’s my excuse for watching as much television as I do and I am sticking to it! There are few circumstances in life that invoke real envy but every now and again something tangible comes along that has a lasting impact. Over the last few weeks for me that has been the BBC drama series The Split – in 6 hour long episodes.  Personally I throughly enjoyed it as I think thousands of others did.  It ticked all the right boxes for me. It resonated emotionally, it was female centric, unexpectedly diverse in a good way rather than the usual tokenism bullshit fodder; it covered family and court room drama (which I love), it was well acted and probably the icing on the cake – well written by a woman. Well done Abi Morgan. I long for the day when I can produce something anywhere near this incredibly high standard.

So although writing was not at the forefront this week it was certainly in the background and it proved to be more than enough to keep me going.  I cracked the paranormal aspect of my short story, by keeping it simple and sticking with what I know. It may have gone a little off piste; I am not sure the term fairy godmother counts as paranormal activity in today’s world but, I have made a good effort to weave it around the brief and it seems to work.  If the terminology feels like too much of a stretch after a week there is still time for a good edit; the concept is sound and should stand up to minor changes with a few tweaks. Yes I am aware, that was a fair amount of writer speak; but it demonstrates how my perhaps, unorthodox writing methods are slowly seeping into my consciousness. This is a welcome relief in spite of this week’s lacklustre start.