Neurosis

I'm fairly sure I've blogged about woodworker's block before, haven't I? Not an unfamiliar feeling in most creative disciplines. With woodworking it's usually that first breaking into a new stack of timber that I find difficult. Once there's chippings in the dust extractor and a pile of new prepped boards on the bench, I'm away and will get to the end of the project in one way or another even if (hah! WHEN) there's angst along the way. With writing it's famously the blank piece of paper that's inhibiting, even to the point of writing any old gobbledegook to get oneself starting. It's the same sort of thing as writing postcards; it's only when you're down to the last 1/2" that you suddenly have more to say than can fit so you have to end up crawling up the side to get it in.

Hmm, that would work better if I could lay it out on the screen with the text crawling up the side, wouldn't it? The limitations of computers...

But woodworker's block is not an unfamiliar enemy, and it's dealt with eventually. But I don't usually go totally non-woodworking. It's not often that I'm not thinking of some woodwork-related idea or theory, enthusiatically reading the various forums and so forth. It's not often I reach the point of picking up a Woodworker annual and putting it down again, unread.

I know. Worrying, ain't it? Normality to me is being a Really Sad Case... (Nah, that's not what I meant, but it's a fair point... Anyway.)

I just can't seem to get going at all. Been in a funny mood all week now, to be honest. I better flippin' well snap out of it soon or, well I dunno. That's the problem - I dunno just about sums it up at the moment! Not been a bad week really; a couple of unsolicited tool purchasing enquiries, a little saw doctor work turned up; mysterious envelope of galootishness from BB and so forth, but nope, just can't flick the switch to "on". You know it's bad when TPTBs unexpectedly turn up with a Terry Pratchett in the hopes I'd not got it and it'd cheer me up. Yikes. It'll be an old tool on the off-chance I don't have it next.

So I've tried the go-into-the-workshop-regardless option. The tool-cleaning-aversion-therapy. The don't-think-about-it option and now the blog-your-neurosis-away treatment. (Or should that be blog-your-neurosis-back-again...?) If this doesn't work I'm in real trouble...