Pregnancy Has Stolen My Blogging Mojo
There comes a point in every pregnancy where my brain grows sluggish. I have trouble forming any thoughts more complicated than “My back hurts.” The creative juices do not flow. The blogging drafts pile up, and I wonder how I will ever finish them. Everything seems a chore - frequently a chore that makes me cry. Even food stops tasting good.
I am now in those pregnancy doldrums, wishing for nothing more than an ocean breeze, a couple of margaritas, and a few days without children. Needless to say, none of that is going to happen.
So in an effort to clear my head, here are summaries of the posts I have been trying unsuccessfully to write for my patient readers:
1. A list of my favorite curmudgeons. Harrison Ford (see his Conan O’Brien interview here) and Tommy Lee Jones were on the list, but then I got bogged down with historical people. Can I put St. Jerome on the same list with Robert Duvall? And would it be funny or just dumb if I added my moody Hebrew teacher that none of you have met?
2. A deep and profound post about the martyrdom of Thomas Cranmer and what it teaches us about God’s mercy. This post is based largely on Charles Williams’ play Thomas Cranmer of Canterbury (seriously, read it). Problem is, once I tell myself that my post has to be “deep and profound,” nothing I write can possibly be good enough.
3. Mockery of the liberal liturgy of my denomination. It is generally awful and fully deserves to be mocked, but at the current speed of my imagination, I just can’t make it funny enough. Plus, I’ve been going to a conservative congregation the last two years, so I’m not sure I have the church street cred to handle this subject anymore.
4. A list of movies that really are better than the book. Top of the list: the tv versions of the Brother Cadfael mysteries. Derek Jacobi’s subtlety gives Cadfael a historical verisimilitude that he lacks in Ellis Peters novels.
5. A comparison of the differences between “forgiving yourself” and accepting forgiveness. The only problem with this post is that my irritation with popular culture’s namby-pamby theology is painfully evident, and I’m really not that amusing when I’m sour and disapproving.
6. Using Much Ado About Nothing and Dorothy Sayers’ Busman’s Honeymoon, a discussion of love and manipulation. Is love still love if we use it to make people do what we want?
There they are, folks. My unfinished posts, awaiting a day when I can write something more captivating than “Pregnancy is lousy. Hurry up, baby, please. But don’t have colic. Cause that would be worse.”
Maybe you can do something with my incomplete thoughts that I can’t.
The Razzler
Ooh, number 5 sounds really interesting! I wouldn’t mind you being sour and disapproving.
I sympathise with the lack of blogging mojo as mine also appears to have wandered off for the time being.
Karen
1. This could be very long if you include both personal acquaintances, movie stars and those no longer with us. It could be a series!
3. You mean like ” rainbow, arc, dove” for the Holy Trinity? I am sadly familiar.
6. Please write this one.
Jeana
I guess it wouldn’t help to just change your expectations on number 2. A light and whimsical post about the martyrdom of Thomas Cranmer just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Beck
I couldn’t write AT ALL while I was pregnant, so you’re doing SUBSTANTIALLY better than me.
And ha ha, liberal liturgy!
Emily
Do we get to vote? I would LOVE to see your treatment of #3 & #6! You know, for all those cogent moments that come with newborns…
Seriously, I was just marveling the other day that you don’t seem to get “pregnancy brain” at all! I find it next to impossible to have any deep thoughts during pregnancy, or, come to think of it, in general during these toddled-dredge days… I hope baby comes soon for your sake AND isn’t colicky.
andrea_jennine
All of them sound interesting to me, and the even numbers especially intrigue me. Whether you end up posting on those or not, I’m adding the Charles William play to my reading list and designating the Cadfael DVDs as my next series to check out from the library. Thanks for the tips! I already know a re-read of Much Ado is on my horizon for the Shakespeare class I’m teaching this year, and I always enjoy a re-read of Dorothy Sayers.
suburbancorrespondent
Glad I’m not the only one with those unfinished drafts floating around! And the minute I think, “Oh, I can make this really funny!” is the minute I’ve just doomed myself to failure.
JulieC
What is it about curmudgeons? Here’s another who is a favorite of mine–Richard Schiff as Toby Ziegler on The West Wing. So very snarky and hilarious!
You know, even your unfinished posts are good. If you weren’t happy with them, you could post them with a “baby brain” disclaimer and we’d all read them anyhow.
Jennifer
4. Anything written by Steven King is better as a movie. The Princess Bride is also better as a movie; but you don’t strike me as a lover of The Princess Bride!
Veronica Mitchell
Jennifer, bite your tongue. I think Princess Bride is GREAT.
Sherri E.
YOU are one of my favorite curmudgeons.
Kimberly
Blech. I feel like this and I am only four months pregnant. With my second. I can only imagine how you feel with three little ones underfoot.
I think even your bloggy thoughts are funny and profound.
Katrina (Callapidder Days)
Well, I’m liking #5, probably because I’m tired of hearing about how someone I know “just can’t forgive himself,” and I’m supposed to think that makes him more noble. So I’m all for the sourness.
My blogging mojo has left the building, but I don’t have a pregnancy to blame for it.
chaotic joy
Oh good grief. Your incomplete thoughts make my complete thoughts (do I have those?) look like marshmallow fluff.
I think you should congratulate yourself on getting this far in your pregnancy before reaching this state. I become surly and at a loss for any thought that isn’t “WHEN WILL THIS BE OVER? about the time I pee on the stick.
Hang in there friend.
sis
Am I the only one honest enough to say
what the heck is historical verisimilitude?
Moriah @ Please Pass the Salt
Number 6.
It is not.
“…it is not self-seeking…” (I Cor. 13:5)
Kelly @ Love Well
I was going to leave a witty comment, but then I saw “Princess Bride” in the thread, and now my only thought is, “Anybody want a peanut?”
(Sorta wish I had a baby inside to excuse that. But I don’t. Sorry.)
edj
I think you should just put those in your “someday” file and write them at a later point.
I feel I went several years without a deep thought when I was pg/nursing/had 3 under 2 years. Even now, this year, I feel my own posts have lacked depth because I just don’t have time to sort out my thoughts. I’m too busy! I can’t wait to get back to Africa, where life is slower even with language-learning trials thrown in.