By rights, I should come down with a raging case of post-novel ennui in the next few days. Election Day will certainly keep me distracted today. There’s always things popping in my personal life, of course. But I’ll be curious to see if this more controlled drafting process in Tourbillon will affect the course of post-novel ennui.
In a related note, I hereby announce a contest! Leave a comment here about the way I should best combat post-novel ennui. Feel free to be highly creative.
As usual, after a few days I’ll post a voting poll. Winner as determined by a jury of their peers shall receive an inscribed ARC of Green, as soon as I have them to ship out. Usual rules and arbitrary errors by the moderator apply.
Originally published at jlake.com. You can comment here or there.
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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) kadath |
| 2008-11-04 14:02 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
| booze |
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Boozeboozeboozeboozebooze--Oh wait, that's how I deal with things.
Never mind.
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Write a short-story for the_child. It'll keep you writing, hopefully through the ennui period.
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Forget booking a flight on a zeppelin--build one yourself. From scratch!
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Road trip... of course I say that as answer to everything!
(Destination? The City Imperishable, of course.)
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| drachin8 |
| 2008-11-04 16:27 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
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The best way to defeat an enemy is through propaganda. You should plan and execute a media campaign against the evils of post-novel ennui. Feel free to demonize ennui at will--it's not like it can defend itself or anything! If that fails to eliminate the ennui, your next step should be a troop surge. Troop surges never fail.
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Go back and read one of the books that inspired you to become a writer in the first place.
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Blog. Blog like you've never blogged before. Blog intensely for a week, then you will come down with a raging case of post-blog ennui, which is much easier to cope with. bloggui I think they call it. bloggui can be combatted by text messaging...
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The best way to combat post-novel ennui is with those giant Q-tips they used on American Gladiators.
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Take a trip to the Redwoods and pretend you are a thumb sized Robin Hood.
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| criada |
| 2008-11-04 17:30 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
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Hiking, preferably somewhere unexpected, like a trek on foot across Portland or a completely unknown city. Walk three times widdershins around the town of LaGrande! Blog as you go.
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| etcet |
| 2008-11-04 17:42 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
| iPood |
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Reveal that you are, in fact, Sarah Palin, and come clean about playing yourself in Nailin' Palin, to rapturous accolades.
Or take up Kettlebells as a form of personal fitness.
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take up knitting or tatting or have a contest where your fans do conceptual drawings of the horofix [or] anything else from these novels and you can pick some for a book on the concepts behind your clockwork worlds
Edited at 2008-11-04 07:40 pm (UTC)
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Induldge yourself in the wonders of new types of cheeses and write up an play by play about them, or have a "what kind of drink is this?" party! The Japanese are always coming out with something new and wierd. And of course, along with the cheese idea, write a play by play of what to drink and what to pour down your drain to pray it'll unclog your sink because its just that bad.
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| (Anonymous) |
| 2008-11-04 21:11 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
Do something that disengages your brain. For me, that's large-muscle physical stuff: housecleaning, going for a walk, gardening.
Or some non-textual problem-solving. Move the furniture around (also fits in the large-muscle physical stuff), work on a jigsaw puzzle, hand-build a clay pot (or paint one at one of those shops).
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| snippy |
| 2008-11-04 21:12 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
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Oops, that anonymous comment about large-muscle stuff was me.
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| gaaneden |
| 2008-11-04 22:19 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
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Spent it in the hospital with your visiting best friend who had emergency throat surgery. That will distract you. I speak from personal experience.
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| jeffsoesbe |
| 2008-11-04 22:27 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
| yeff yahoo avatar |
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Write another book. You know you can do it!
- yeff
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| manmela |
| 2008-11-04 23:23 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
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Well it's not too late to take part in NaNoWriMo!
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| nolly |
| 2008-11-04 23:44 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
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Tahiti. This can be combined with learning a new hobby/craft/language, going on a reading binge, booze, or any number of other suggestions, though I'm not sure what the cheese selection is like there.
[This suggestion brought to you by a chilly SoCal denizen on a grey, rainy day.]
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| jaylake |
| 2008-11-05 03:29 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
| sanguine-Japanese_fire_truck |
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That's what I did post-op! Wu xia movies and Hong Kong chopie sockie.
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Speaking as someone else who grew up in a rather red neck area...
There is something rather cathartic about taking a rifle to the range and blasting the bejesus out of some targets.
Perhaps the decades long span since I've done that myself explains some of my own depressed funk...
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| kzmiller |
| 2008-11-05 05:51 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
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Do art stuff! Go places to view art, talk to artists, play with paper mache' or clay or paint or get a sketch book and sketch cups of coffee in various places you go.
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| aliettedb |
| 2008-11-06 14:05 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
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Try to open a portal into another dimension (required: pentacles, blood from various animals, a capacity for ad-libbing verse strongly recommended in case something goes wrong--which it always does).
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Take a private, no commitment, hike.
Just you. No camera. No blogging after. Stroll, so it does not count as "exercise". Give yourself permission to just sit (or stand) and stare at nature's beauty (or ugly). Only nod (or smile) at other hikers. Let the breeze or sun or shade wash over your face. Stay until whenever. Go back if you need to.
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Dye your hair, or if you're feeling really crazy--dread locks!
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| quixhobbit |
| 2008-11-07 06:08 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
| Julie beach |
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Build really large sandcastle(s). Then STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP! Repeat as necessary. Life is impermanent.
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Perhaps it's time to start a new novel, only this one ought to be a metafictional story about a novelist attempting to combat post-novel ennui, only to find himself pulled inside one of his own fictional worlds and sent adventuring.
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| saveswhat |
| 2008-11-07 21:42 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
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Google the names of long-lost friends until you find one of them. Send your rediscovered friend an e-mail and find out what he/she has been doing for the past ten/twenty/thirty years. You might find a new "informant" for your writing.
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In the late morning on the first Thursday in December, head downtown to the Park Blocks and visit the farmer's market where you will acquire your lunch. Sit on a bench, eat your lunch and watch the world go by. After you've eaten, head to the nearby Portland Art Museum. Spend the afternoon scrutenizing the art. Now, wander aimlessly around downtown until you see a likely spot for dinner. (You might do a little Christmas shopping in the process.) Eat dinner. After dinner, visit art galleries that participate in "First Thursday". When you get home, you'll feel as though you've been a tourist for a day and the visual part of your brain will be warmed up.
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| saveswhat |
| 2008-11-07 21:45 (UTC) |
| (no subject) |
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Write a graphic novel in collaboration with the child. You will supply the words. She will supply the illustrations. Post it here for all to enjoy.
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