You’ve been taunting me since I learned to spell
I tried to stop the voices, close my mind to the words
Look at me now, I knew all along
It’s not in my will to fight so I give way
To the desire the burns in my heart
Just one flicker of a verb and the noun appears
One more line and I’ll forget it’s gone midnight, o-o-o-h
Mama I can’t stop the words when they fall
No, no, I can’t fight, how can I resist
Mama, it’s another night, look at me now
No, no, I can’t fight, they give me life
Yes, together we take flight
Soar high until the moon burns into light
Why, why I do what I do I’ll never know
Mama, you never knew what I always felt
No, no, I can’t fight, how can I resist
I get lost and confused when the words disappear leaving me alone
I think each time they do it’s my end, knowing what I do
There is no me when they go, when they take the light
I am alone the dark wishing and hoping, even praying
You know I am only so strong
Just one flicker of a verb and the noun appears
One more line and I’ll forget it’s gone midnight, o-o-o-h
Mama I can’t stop the words when they fall
No, no, I can’t fight, how can I resist
Mama, it’s another night, look at me now
No, no, I can’t fight, they give me life
Yes, together we take flight
Soar high until the moon burns into light
Why, why I do what I do I’ll never know
Mama, you never knew what I always felt
No, no, I can’t fight, how can I resist
Even if I stand my ground,
Beg them to stay away, be gone forever
It’s only a game, the words will not obey
No, no, not forever
Mama I can’t stop the words when they fall
No, no, I can’t fight, how can I resist
Mama, it’s another night, look at me now
No, no, I can’t fight, they give me life
Yes, together we take flight
Soar high until the moon burns into light
Why, why I do what I do I’ll never know
Mama, you never knew what I always felt
No, no, I can’t fight, how can I resist
Just one flicker of a verb and the noun appears
One more line and I’ll forget it’s gone midnight, o-o-o-h
I’ve been two-timing my new WIP for a couple of months but the guilt’s been gnawing at me like a tiger does to a gazelle. That bad. It was time for a internal review.
I said self, what’s going on?
Damn girl, you know what’s going on. Our life has been like Grand Central Station the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. It happens. We lay down plans, woo and flirt, make a date with destiny and then fate swoops in and scatters best intentions to the far corners of the mind and before you know it the writer in you/us is two timing.
Why? We’re used to coping under siege. We’re not pansies, we’re a woman with moxie? It has to be more than that, why would we two-time the second WIP. It was flying out of us? ‘Esplain wench?
Wench! Mind who you are calling a wench.
If the noun fits.
Here’s my two cents on are our vixen ways. We went off to the Writer’s Conference WOOT!! Big fun and we learned a lot.
I know, I was proud of us.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The problem – we learned too much. We came home desperate to enhance our platform. Write more, submit more, no focus on the WIP, focus everywhere else but where it should have been.
Damn, girl your good.
Tell me something I don’t know.
We all lose focus from time to time, OK, I DO. After me and myself talked we refocused on the WIP reread the first nine chapters, rewrote one, and started on ten. As a reward we wrote a little parody to ABBA’s Mamma Mia, a reminder of what happens when the words are left to run amuck.
How do you stay focused?
Lyrics | Abba lyrics – Mamma Mia lyrics
{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
I love these conversations with self. I have no doubt you know how to handle yourself, Brenda. Sometimes when we pull away from one WIP to do something else, it’s our minds way of letting us know there’s something we should be doing at that moment. I had to pull away from one because I was supposed to be writing something different. That different story flowed out and I’m glad I didn’t sit on it to finish what I’d already begun. Sometimes you have to follow your mind, even if you think it’s making you stray.
Kelly Hashway recently posted….Monday Mishmash and More Blog Awards
I have such a blast writing out the inner dialogue. It’s funny and it reminds me how amazing the human heart, mind, and body are all connected. We’re so fragile, so strong, so vulnerable, and so Xena. We’re easily derailed, but also, we can soar as and when we must.
Brenda, your parody is absolutely brilliant! And, your conversation with self about stepping away from the WIP? Fantastic!
I, too, struggle when I’m given too much information at one time. I have to sit back and give myself time to process it all and see where each piece fits in my journey, be it in writing or in other facets of life. It is precisely then, before I can digest everything when I am bound to lose focus.
Glad you got yourself back on track after the hiatus!
Blessings!
Martha Orlando recently posted…." . . . Let Freedom Ring!"
Martha, I wouldn’t call it a hiatus, since not a day goes by that I am not writing something, but the WIP was collecting virtual dust. I wrote a few poems, some he done me wrong kind of prose, a song, and in between I am laboring (and painfully so) with Love’s obituary. The WIP is such a pleasure to work on as the story is easier to tell.
I had three different new stories I wanted to write, began planning them, outlining them, wrote a chapter or two, then, WHAM! Another story took over. It’s the one (for now).
Sometimes we just have to soar with that moon, let the words fall where they may.
Beverly Diehl recently posted….Dancing into an Interview with Laura Sheehan
Bev, it’s the good, the bad, and the OMG, really! How can we keep up? This challenges me. The wanting to write, the writing, the white noise, the creative explosions. ARGH! We cope!
It is all about balance, I don’t get to everything, not even close. I just do my best and know it doesn’t all need to get done now. But when my WIP is done, a huge weight will lift. I cannot delay everything until I am done though, I tried that. It is suffocating. I spread, and try to find joy and fun in the meantime. It is all I can do. And I chose it fully.
Sounds about richt, Jodi. We have to give ourselves room to breathe, time to recover been creative spurts. What I enjoy the most about my writing journey is the exploration of self. It’s more than just the writing, it’s learning about yourself along the way.
Focus!!! I’ve been yelling at myself the last two weeks to focus. I have too many things I want to do, too many books started, too many art projects, too many movies in my queue, too many friends to call, too many blogs to read, to many articles to peruse.
Some days focusing feels like a Herculean effort and I think the only way to get there will be to runaway from home and live in a remote cabin for a few month. Doh, I gotta get those fellowship application filled out!
Actually Lynne, I did think of you when faced with this issue as I remember reading your post on Blooming Late about working on multiple WIPS. I couldn’t imagine this happening, but I see now it can. When the idea comes I’ve now taught myself to make notes, write it all down, hit save and go back to the project I was working on before I had a creativity overload. I prefer writing longer works over short, but if it has to be short, I do enjoy the poem or lyric form of writing. It helps me (creatively) finishing something between page one and four hundred.
This was enjoyable! I love the conversations with yourself, Brenda!
And good luck with your WIP (or WIPs)? Whichever it is that you are working on right now. <3
Irene @ Inspiration From The Little Things recently posted….Some Photos And A Few Words
Glad you enjoyed, Irene. One WIP is now a finished novel looking for an agent, the second WIP is well on it’s way, and a third is noted for further exploration after the second is done. I hope this is always the case, more to write than time, but having been around a while I know it ebbs and flows.
You just have to be in the zone, don’t you?
I do. It has to be a labor of love, yes?
Sometimes I wonder (like tonight) why I bother.
I keep starting new stuff because the old is burning me out.
But finishing anything lately seems impossible.
At least you bring a smile to my face now with this parody.
Enjoyed!
Debra recently posted….Inch by Inch
Debra – I’ve been thinking about you (watch your email. It’s not the finishing that is bugging me, it was what should I focus on. So much input is distracting. In the end, I opted on a short term plan that I can stick to for three months, which gives me sufficient time to finish the new WIP, blog, and maybe a few dozen letters to the universe in between.Thanks as ever.
You may have an alternate career in lyric writing
Boys, I need focus.
On second thought, I truly believe I have the focus … I need help chanelling it to the right project!
Astra recently posted….The Math of Summer Camp
Astra, ME TOO!!
In the first novel, I had to write songs, since Stella’s dead husband was a country singer. I cannot help you with the project, but I promise you’ll figure it out, or it will come to you when you least expect it.
When you are blessed with such talent sometimes you just have to let it fly! I love your take on it all, and feel a kindred spirit. Focus is one of my biggest challenges. Variety makes life so interesting, but then again, finishing something makes it gratifying.
From all the conversations I’ve had lately with fellow writers, it seems platform building (blogging and social media) is a writer’s worst enemy in terms of staying focused, but also a best friend in creating a wonderfully supportive community of creative, like-minded people. So what’s a girl to do? GET BACK TO WORK!
Thanks for your delightful post!
Becky Green Aaronson recently posted….Let Freedom Ring
Thanks, Becky, I neglected to mention in my post (forgot) that after reading your post on what inspires I had the idea to write a writing song based on ABBA. In a way, my nonsense is your fault. Yes, on social media, although my time is limited to blogging and commenting, which for me is huge dent in my available hours. I have the day job, so writing is a night and weekend thing. I don’t read or comment on enough blogs, but I had to accept that I have restrictions. I do my best, but really my focus has to be on the second WIP.. the writing, the writing the writing.
~~~Damn, girl your good.
Tell me something I don’t know.~~~~
Okay, I shall not tell you how damn good you are then!!! XXXX
My Inner Chick recently posted….Magic Bars, Sweetened Condensed Milk & Madonna.
Well, thanks Mistress Kim, for letting me know I have to improve my game. Hugs woman.
Wow, Brenda, I haven’t heard the word, “Wench,” since I watched “Moll Flanders” on Masterpiece Theater. Now, she was a classic, 18th century wench. Great show and great book, too! Anyway, don’t listen to your other self. You’re no wench!
Monica recently posted….OLD FRIENDS
Oh Monica, I love that word. No idea why, but wench is ever at the tip of my tongue.
Brenda, that is awesome! I adore your “inner dialog” and think what we say to ourselves might be the most important conversations of all! You rock!
Linda Medrano recently posted….The Arab Boy At The Corner Store
Now if I could only sing or find a bunch of writers who can sing that would be willing to make a video on youtube so we could go viral, get noticed, and have signed book deals. I can dream, that much is true.
What makes you assume I have focus? I make lists, calendars, time schedules…and like you, life gets in the way more often than not. Then I start baking. But that’s what gives us something to write about, right?
mamawolfe recently posted….Growing Slowly or Standing Still?
I don’t know what I was thinking about, Jennifer. I have focus, but it’s not always in the right place. Baking is the last place I turn – too many rules, that baking stuff–music, books, and writing silly songs like this one, or rewriting.
Brenda you are too funny! Your conversations with yourself crack me up: oh-oh. I think our WIP is always there like a faithful friend, waiting for us to come back to. If we stress over the coming back part too much it seems to jinx the whole process and it takes a while to smoothe things out ‘back to normal’ once again. Thanks for your blatant honesty girlfriend!
Elizabeth – your are welcome, as always. I sometimes wonder if it would be easier if I were less honest and lived more in my imaginary world. At least it’s fun along the way.
I was going to comment and then I read your comment above and I lost my train of thought which can only mean I needed to tell you to stay the way you are. Authentic. Less honest = crime lol.
adrianairis recently posted….On The Search … The Sweet Life
Adriana – great equation. I feel a post coming on. No other option, of course. Be who I am, who you are…