Like a lump of shit

For the past week or so my novel in progress has felt like a big lump of shit stuck in a toilet that needs poking at with a pen, so it can dissolve into brown snowflakes that eventually will clear and become white.

What!? You might be thinking. The truth is that I've been so preoccupied with this interview (no, I didn't get the job) that my creative part of the brain has been completely blocked.

I read an article in Mslexia about finding a metaphor about the project you are currently working on. That's how I came up with "like a lump of shit stuck in a toilet." The second part of the exercise was to transform the metaphor, trying to resolve the problem you were having. So that's when I came up with "poking at the shit with a pen until it dissolves into snowflakes ..."

Just thinking about a lump of shit dissolving made me more excited about my novel again. So today I made a start on re-writing the end part of the 3rd draft of Replacing Angel. It went very slow, but after three hours I was still sitting in front of the screen. That means I've got my motivation back. Great!

This might be too much information but after my writing session I had a great dump. Then I went out to sit in the garden. Ironically a sea-gull decided to have a dump as well. A big splash of brown shit hit my pink T-shirt. It physically hurt my back. I first thought it was some kid throwing something at me from a window ... If this had happened yesterday, when I was still creatively blocked, I would've been in tears, but today I just smiled and thought shit happens!