Have you ever both wanted to write but yet also not been in the mood for writing? Maybe you have a paper due the next day and you know you really need to sit down and write, but when you try to sit and do it, you find your mind is just jumping around too much and you can't focus on actually writing. What do you do in this situation?

I think many people just don't write. They procrastinate. They rationalize. Maybe they'll be in the mood to write later, so might as well watch some TV right now. End result is it doesn't get done or if it has to be done then it is rushed and done badly at the last possible minute.

One habit I have is writing everyday. I do two different kinds of writing. One is a haiku everyday. I haven't been very consistent on sharing these on Hive. @boxcarblue is doing a much much better job in that. But I do always write at least one out on a note card and I stick them into my notecard box whether it's good or bad. They are usually bad, I assure you, but I write and keep them regardless. The practice is the important part, not the end result.

I also try to write something longer every day as well. In this I have a goal to write a Hive post everyday, but I work a few days to a week ahead in my posts so it's not critical if I can't finish a post. The key think is writing. Mostly I just want to keep the writing habit going, so just like with my haiku, even if my writing on any day is no good, I still do it.

In many ways, both these two practices are different. Writing a haiku often involves listening. Sitting down, listening, staring off into nothing. Unlike writing in general where staring off into nothingness may be more searching for an idea, with haiku writing it is mainly listening and not thinking. Other haiku poets may have different ideas, so don't take my way as the only one, but for me a good haiku is about capturing the moment: and you don't do that by thinking, but rather by listening.

My writing practice on the other hand usually involves constant writing. I want to get everything out of my head and onto the page. If there is nothing in my head, I write about how there is nothing in my head. I can always edit it later, but for the writing part I want to just get it all down, good or bad.

Two different writing practices, but with the commonality that I force myself to do them everyday, even when I'm not in the mood. Too often we allow our emotions to control us. Now I'm not saying we should be robots without feeling, but I am saying that we shouldn't allow feelings to become an excuse for not doing things that we really want or need to do.

As Gurney Halleck told a young Paul Atreides near the beginning of Dune:

Mood? What has mood to do with it? You fight when the necessity arises — no matter the mood! Mood's a thing for cattle or making love or playing the baliset. It's not for fighting.
—Dune

And so I write, regardless of my mood.

(title photo by Max from Pixabay)

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.