I was on a roll. Really, I was. I almost made it three days in a row. Actually, I didn’t come anywhere close to it. I didn’t even look at the newsletter. See, this thing happens where I go through manic bouts of productivity. The downturn, of course, is inactivity. I try to establish routines. I start doing to-do lists. Inevitably, I stop my routines, I stop my to-do lists. The other day I made my to-do list and all I wrote was ‘write to-do list’ and then I crossed it off and I had no idea what to do after that. Is this ADHD? I assume this is ADHD. A brief google search indicates that this might be ADHD, but it also might not be ADHD.
We never got our hurricane.
The days came and the days went and I had nothing I wanted to write about but I had to write about something because recently I finished writing a book (a whole ass book!) and now I want to get an agent so that the agent can talk to other people for me–they will trust my agent much more than they will trust me, plus, my agent will know how to ask for money as opposed to me who would meekly say yes to anything–and hopefully those other people and my agent will come to an agreement in regards to my book.
And so the days came and the days went and I had nothing to write about but I had to write about something because I’m doing this newsletter for the above-stated purposes but also as a way to exercise my creative skills maybe when I don’t have much inspiration. This week, I had very little inspiration.
I thought about starting this Dispatch From Vermont — it is Sunday, after all — with something about how the summer is ending here in Vermont. But then I wouldn’t really know what to tell you about the summer ending in Vermont. A lot is made of the time directly after summer in Vermont. People come here from all over the world to witness the change of season. They call them ‘leaf peepers’. I tell you one thing, if anyone called me a ‘peeper’, I’d tell them to keep their peeper to themselves.
But the summer is ending and I don’t know how to write about it. The summer is ending and the other day I was riding my bike, and this college boy was inlining down the street and he looked more roasted than I’ve ever seen anyone ever in my life and he was inlining in a huge swerve and he waved and he smiled as I went past him. The summer is ending and I have no idea what to say about it. Or anything. It’s one of the things that makes me grapple with the idea of being creative as a profession. Sometimes I just don’t have it.
I did draw some cartoons. You can see those here. One of them is a guy yelling about a ham sandwich. I don’t know.
And maybe I don’t need to know. Maybe this is just a thing that I write and I put it out there and it is whatever it is. One thing is for sure; people who know about my writing know that I often write about nothing. I thought about how I could turn this into something, but for now, it is going to be nothing. For now, this is going to be a vehicle for my book. Oof, I couldn’t go a whole week without sharing another blurb! Here’s another blurb, apropos of nothing:
“...every time we started playing I Will Survive by Cake by Gloria Gaynor, the crowd (bachelorette party) would go fucking crazy.” -blurb taken from Chapter 12 of CM Steven’s Steve’s Tour Journals.
Ooo, also, I’ll have a flash fiction piece published next week on The Daily Drunk. Also, I’m officially signed up for college for the first time in my life. I start classes in like a week. I am hoping to find something to write about in the interim.
OTHER DISPATCHES-
Dispatches From Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta
Who should buy it:
People who really trust Tony Horwitz, who is quoted as saying that this book is “the truest book about the Mississippi Delta.” Or, anyone who has been lost or found in the Mississippi Delta.
What it’s about:
The Mississippi Delta.