The Writing Doldrums

Have y’all ever had days when you can’t seem to write? Perhaps you want to do so, but you can’t “bring yourself to the page.” Some days when I sit in front of my computer screen, looking at the blank page titled “Add New Post,” I’m excited about the prospect of writing. My fingers fly across the keyboard as ideas bubble to the surface. Then there are days when nothing flows. I feel like a ship caught in a sea with no wind that will catch in my sails … going nowhere. I enter “the writing doldrums.”

In search of inspiration last night, or at least an explanation of why writing is so hard some days, I decided to search the internet. My first instinct is to call this “Googling,” though I was using a different search engine. I entered: “writing doldrums” and was instantly rewarded by an article by the author Kristi Holl at Writer’s First Aid.

She maintains that our writing boat gets stranded because of the uneven pacing of our lives (not just our writing but our “real” lives). Some of us have days of frenzied activity followed by a lull, and Ms. Holl believes that the key is to find balance. She says that quality writing comes from being on an “even keel” and to do that we must “avoid the extreme highs so you can avoid the extreme lows.” That’s easier said than done, but I think the idea has some merit.

However, I think “the writing doldrums” hits me for a different reason: the distraction of the internet! Read on, and you’ll see why.

As I read Ms. Holl’s article I got curious about the term “the doldrums,” and its origin. So, I Googled it. I found the definition of it in the Merriam Webster on-line dictionary as follows:

Definition of DOLDRUMS
1. a spell of listlessness or despondency
2. often capitalized : a part of the ocean near the equator abounding in calms, squalls, and light shifting winds
3. a state or period of inactivity, stagnation, or slump

Yes, but how did the term “in the doldrums” enter the language?Where did it originate? My fingers flew across the keyboard. Another article suggested that the term “in the doldrums” preceded the nautical term:

In the 19th century, a doldrum was a dullard, or a dull and sluggish fellow. It is thought that this word is derived from “dol,” meaning “dull.” At some point during the 19th century, the word “doldrums” quite referring to a person and started meaning being in the state of dullness and / or sadness or a state of being in low spirits.

It wasn’t used as a nautical term until after Lord Byron wrote a phrase in The Island, “From the bluff head where I watch’d to-day, I saw her in the doldrums; for the wind Was light and baffling.” A “baffling wind” is one “that blows in variable and shifting directions.”

Was that all? Could there be more? I found a site that included the origins of a lot of expressions and sayings, but I had to scroll down to get to “in the doldrums.” On the way, another expression caught my eye: “in like Flynn.”

What in Thunder did that mean? Here is what they said:

taking instant advantage of any chance opportunity
This phrase is commonly thought to be a reference to the ease with which film star Errol Flynn bedded women. It dates to about 1945 and is indeed a reference to the Tasmanian-born film star, Errol Flynn (1909-59). The earliest known citing equates the term to Flynn’s swashbuckling cinematic feats. As an action hero, everything came easy to him on the silver screen.
…The sexual connotations did not clearly appear until the 1970, although this might be a case of editorial discretion. It would not be surprising if the original meaning was sexual in origin, but altered in published works until more recent times.

Errol Flynn was born in Tasmania? He was a “Tasmanian devil,” it sounds like … oh wait, that cartoon about the Tasmanian devil … was that character really about the carnivorous marsupial in Australia, or was it a veiled reference to Errol Flynn? I don’t know my geography! Is Tasmania near the equator? How did I get from “the writing doldrums” to Tasmania (and did you notice how S.E.X. got thrown into the picture)? How did I get so off-topic?

Do you see what just happened? No wonder I can’t get any writing done!

The Internet is a “baffling wind!” My “writing doldrums” just might be caused by Google! It allows me too many distractions from the actual task of writing.

If you glance at the header on my blog, you’ll see my hands at the computer. Next to the computer is a purple legal pad with the post I was writing on the day I took the picture. That’s how I once wrote posts … like Agatha Christie, I wrote everything in longhand before I sat down at the computer (actually Dame Agatha didn’t use a computer and had a secretary to type it on the typewriter … remember those? Not secretaries — typewriters.).

Perhaps the key to getting out of a writing slump is to get away from the Internet? Maybe I can get out of the writing doldrums if I take a pen in hand, sit in my favorite chaise longue, and let the ideas flow to the page. After I know what I intend to write, I can go to the Internet to add to the story. It’s worth a shot. Besides, if no ideas come to me, I can easily take a nap!

Tell me, does the Internet hamper YOUR writing? What do YOU do when you hit “the writing doldrums?” Do you have a favorite way to find writing inspiration?

Other posts you might enjoy:

1. Gentle Rebellion–Finding Balance–A Group Writing Project
2. Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall. A Writing Contest.
3. Too Good To Be True, and The Power of Story
4. Expect The Unexpected
5. As A Writer, I Have Multiple Personality Disorder

Tagged as: and Storytelling, inspiration, STORYTELLING & SCRIBBLING, Words