Mrs Finnegan is Stumped
I am in a strange mood somewhere betwix the edge of tedium and the depths of torpid-ness. I have written one and a half chapters of my book Life, Love and Laxatives and I am reasonably satisfied with them. That is say it strikes me being as being not QUITE good enough, but not bad enough to SPUR me to go back and do something about it.
Or go forward and write more.
The truth is it is turning into a Wednesday kind of book which is not what I wanted for you. If this carries on, I am afraid you may just have to put up with it.
Fellow writers and drafters of wills and binding contracts is that how you feel sometimes? Have you a solution? Do let me know.
Master Peregrine, riding master (retired and my husband) said I am suffering from writers’ BLOCKAGE and I should ignore it and treat writing like a job of work. The trouble is I think that is what I am doing, treating it like a job that I would much rather a parlour maid did.
An old friend called last week. We were young housekeepers together but it is many years since we have seen each other. Oh dear, oh very dear me. She has changed UTTERLY.
It was a shock to realise that she came out INTENDING to look like this. The froth and frills are a good 15 years out of date and they frame her face in such a way as to make her nose LOOM larger. Indeed, I would almost say it had grown since last we met. It has certainly changed colour.
My poor friend reminded me of a chipped china cup, missing its saucer, which lives at the back of the cupboard without any purpose except to be the last resting place for DEAD spiders.
She told me that I had NOT changed an iota. That I was the same as I always was and she would have recognised me anywhere, all of which pleased me mightily. Of course, kindness and good manners dictated that I should lie and say the same to her. To encourage her, I even said she looked 20 years younger. Her MEMORY is obviously failing as she did not offer an opinion on how many years younger I looked.
She left after her third cup of tea and all the scones had been eaten. We both swore we must do this more often.
Have you noticed how LONG the days are and how short the years?
Have you signed up to Mrs Finnegan’s subscription service? No, you really should. It is the only way to make SURE you never miss any of her missives.
It costs nothing and a gentleman from The Regency Town House will hand deliver it to your door (do NOT offer a gratuity). It’s possible we will use an alternative method. Click HERE
16 comments on “Mrs Finnegan is Stumped”
Leave a comment
Over 125 reviews & 280 ratings on Amazon
A Good Confession
"Unputdownable" Miriam Stoppard
BRIDGET WHELAN writer 
the best way to deal with block is the same as with a physical blockage and try a change of diet. write a frivolous short story, or a poem, or engage to write what happened next to the peripheral charactes in one of Miss Austen’s novels. a professional writer can work during block, but accepts that what comes out of the pen may very well be close to garbage and will need re-writing; but pushing through does often bring one to a point where enjoyment is re-ignited, and even urges to improve on the hideous and unnecessary complexities and turgid nesting passages of the offending chapters of push-through.
I showed your kind reply to Mrs Finnegan who is busy supervising mattress cleaning, mending and restoring at the moment. Her response was “Saved!” She went away with chaff in her hair (it gets everywhere) and new energy in her step.
Glad if I may be of some help!
OMG!
Despite persistent rumors to the contrary, Mrs Finnegan reveals herself to be human after all!
Some guy by the name of David Burkus, author of the book THE MYTHS OF CREATIVITY – is quoted as saying this on the subject of writer’s block –
“Writer’s block is the biggest myth out there. The idea that you’re just lost for any possible words isn’t some vague illness that strikes people when they’re trying to be creative. You’re not missing the words; you’re missing the research. All ideas are combination of preexisting ideas. So if you’re “out” of new ideas it’s probably because you don’t have enough old ideas to combine.
Go back and read more. Or spend more time mapping out the book. Don’t show up to the keyboard without a plan and then tell the world you have writer’s block. You’re lying to us, and to yourself.”
Well, the advice givers of this world have once again made it all sound so simple!
I must admit Bridget I thought the book would be more an exercise in simply gathering together all the scores upon scores of highly entertaining columns”Mrs Finnegan” has put pen to over the last few years and presenting them in a published bound ‘book’.
Is this not the case?
I have been asked to deliver the following comment from Mrs Finnegan:
“A plan, of course. A plan!”
She was also muttering about more research as she hurried away to avert a mattress emergency (the seams are threatening to split – weakened after a good beating).
I can confide in you Glen that yes, the forthcoming volume is a collection of her wit and wisdom, but Mrs F has to link it altogether in her singular manner. It is this task she is undertaking at the moment, or not undertaking. However, with your good advice and that of Mr Burkus I am confidant she will now speed ahead.
when betwixt and befuddled, trying to work on or finish a project, I tend to walk away for a very short time, and return refreshed with all made suddenly clear, as if I have new eyes.
Walk away….yes, I think she can do that.
but come back very soon, and it will all come together, just a short walk away, take a breath, clear your mind and then – clarity!
I find bribery helps. For example, a biscuit per completed paragraph.
Comment from Mrs Finnegan:
I have tried this already and I’ve noticed the impact:
1) My paragraphs are getting shorter.
2) My waist is getting wider
Treating writing like a job of work only works if you have a very particular mindset (much like “Get it written, don’t get it right”.
I tried it once, and ended up hating everything I’d written and having to redo it all when I was in the right mental place.
If it doesn’t work for you, I’d suggest a complete change of pace: write some limericks, a short story in a completely different genre, or something else unconnected to your work; then go out and look at ducks for a while until your brain relaxes.
Then, when you feel as though you could write something, prepare a plate of scones, biscuits, or some other suitable treat, and promise yourself you can have one as soon as you have got something, *anything*, written to your satisfaction.
Be sure to follow through with this reward, preferably in the company of a pot of really *good* chocolate, whether you end by writing a dozen pages or half a paragraph.
This, I find, works better for me than any amount of nose-to-grindstone effort.
I hope it may do so for you too.
Amelia! Amelia!
Forgive the unwarranted delay in publishing your insightful comments and this TARDY response.
Someone – I know not who – put your missive in a folder marked SPAM. I do not have an inkling what that means. Master Peregrine says it is probably a superior sort of ham, but in this context I hardly think so.
In may be some comfort to know that I have taken your MOST excellent advice to heart.
I am your obedient and most regretful servant.
Mrs Finnegan
Welcome back Mrs Finnegan, I was becoming quite alarmed by your silence and your usual efficient message service not being open for business. Were your delivery boys playing truant, the wretches?
i am suffering from chronic writer’s block myself at the moment and can offer no remedy. Writing without a deadline or a financial incentive is dreadfully difficult. The mind wanders. The sunshine beckons. One’s stomach rumbles….
My self imposed task is a sonnet. I suppose you wouldn’t have any advice about such verses would you? I am finding the rhymes frightfully difficult.
Comment from Mrs Finnegan:
Dear fellow sufferer
Ah yes, I feel sure the promise of a new bonnet would help but all my hints in that direction have been ignored. In the absence of a material incentive you and I have to plough on somehow.
I am afraid I can offer no assistance on sonnet-making but I am tempted to have a go myself as a kind reader has already suggested that attempting a very different kind of writing may help.
Perhaps you could try this too. A Regency romance? Something with dragons? Recipe writing?
I wish you well. Write again when you have reached line 7
If Mrs Finnegan is flagging, what hope for us, the (perspiring? no, aspiring) writers of the future? Our master writes only betting slips, and our mistress writes only shopping lists, for the fripperies she and her posh friends require!
So what if I do sweat when I’m scrubbing the kitchen floors? “Cleanliness in next to Godliness” that’s what the Pastor at the Chapel says, so I shall go straight to Heaven when I die, unlike some I could mention in this House of Sin!
Valerie (named after Saint Valerie, of course)
Mrs Finnegan comments:
Dear Valerie
The fact that I am an inspiration for so many of the younger generation is an onerous responsibility that I try to bear with dignity. Hold on, Valerie, have faith.