I am still managing ten vaguely haiku-like verses a day.
My problem at the moment is tiredness and lack of subjects. I’m not able to much nature at the moment and crows, bare branches and yellow leaves can get boring in the end. If I’m bored it’s likely that readers will be bored too.
The haibun are not going ell either – I’ve written a few but can’t seem to edit and finish them.
It’s not easy finding the time to write as my normal quiet time is after 10 pm and at that time I’m mainly driving Number Two Son to work. Then I try working at midnight, fall asleep in the chair, wake cold, sleep badly, feel tired all the next day and feel guilty at my lack of achievement.
As for the posting challenge – I’m having to resort to quick posts to ensure I manage something each day. Short, quick posts like this one.
I must take stock of my life and my writing.
Off to take Number Two Son to work now.
Today at work we discussed starting a tribute band to take account of our various talents – and so OCD/C was born.
You have to write it like that to make it more obvious. We all laughed at it, though the customers mainly looked blank at us.
First, the posting challenge. I have written 47 posts (48 if you include this one) in 37 days. It’s not too bad, though I did miss a day (Day 26). The regular posting habit is slowly coming back but I need to develop a wider range of material again, and I need to take more photographs. This, in turn, means that I need to get out more, which is difficult when I’m working during the hours of daylight.
I did get a few shots last Saturday when leaving the shop but they have little merit. Apart from that I only have pictures of coins and stamps, and they aren’t very interesting. I may have to start a personal photography challenge next.
Second, the Haiku Challenge continues. I’m writing at least ten a day and so am keeping up with the target. However, it’s entered a period where I’m not finding much of a spark to inspire me. I’m happy with the fluency, and happy with the habit that is forming. Unfortunately I have a growing feeling that I need a break.
I have written more than ten a day on a regular basis so I have plenty in hand to take a few days off and relax, but the habit is now so well established that I feel uncomfortable even thinking of breaking it. This is probably a Good Thing, as Sellar and Yeatman would probably agree.
Tonight I may write solely on the subject of kittens to seek inspiration and an inner smile. Then I may have a nap.
As I wrote it, I thought the title seemed familiar. Entering “Seven Percent” into Google confirms that it was the title of a Sherlock Holmes film, though one of the later stories. That’s “later” as in after Conan Doyle died, though I do note that the seven percent solution was mentioned in some of the original stories.
That is just a diversion, the real purpose of the title is to report progress on my 100 Post/100 Day challenge.
I’m sure Derrick J Knight and Tootlepedal have posted for years with no interruption. I have managed over 100 days of successive posting several times but I’m not as well-organised as they are. I’ve also noticed a difference since I started work again – after a hard six hour day battering a keyboard and posting parcels I often find I’m too tired to post. I’m getting soft, which is one of the reasons for the challenge and its public announcement.
I’ve been practising my poetry skills for the last couple of years and trying to write something every day. It’s been hard work getting back into practice and I’m not sure I’ve really returned to my levels of 14 years ago when I had my other, brief, career as a poet.
That, plus the blog, was as much writing as I could comfortably do.
The rot set in when I started looking at ebay as part of the process of getting back to work. That takes more time than you’d think, even though a lot of it isn’t really productive.
Add a job to that, even if it is only six hours a day, and the catering and blogging have been suffering. Hence the need for a challenge.
It came about because I needed more haiku practice. Someone had written a blog detailing their challenge of writing 100 haiku in 100 days, and the benefits they gained. I thought I might try that, as I need the practice and polish, but before I started, I read this.
My report on the 1,000 Hiku challenge is that I’m five days in, and I’m ahead of the count. I’m already learning a lot, but that’s a discussion for another day, though one of the things I’ve learnt is that I really ought to stop taking this sort of thing on, and I should stop telling people I’m doing it.
100 in 100 days would have been plenty…
Sumac Tree and Sunshine
For pictures I’ve used two pictures of the sumac tree in the MENCAP gardens – I’ve used them both recently but not together. They are about two weeks apart.
