When writers find themselves toiling in their own moods and stalls they should fight through it.  And by writing.  Starting with a singular word.  Either the first that leaps into their thinking or one from a dictionary or thesaurus, whatever strikes, you just run with it.  Don’t stop.  Thinking about how your job sucks or what a deplorable mood you’re in or day it’s been won’t finish a book.  Trust me.

And… for distractions, just ignore them.  Easy.  Said.  And it should be done.

“But I need coffee,” I just said to myself.  Write through that, too.  Don’t stop with the lines, bottomless from the bottom of your mind as Kerouac said.  Just write and use what you already have–  the wallet on the desk, the doorknob, your sleeves, your keys, the sound of your alarm this morning.. use it all.

My mood now, not what I’d like it to be.  So I write how I’d love it.  On vacation.  Nursing espresso in some snow or ski resort in Colorado.  Never been to CO but I can go there now, and I am, sitting in a handmade wooden seat with soft material (now sure what exactly) cushions, looking out at a hill, blanketed in trees fiercely whitened by this season’s snowfall.

And I’m better.