So those of you who follow my random rants and rambles on Twitter know that Hurricane Sandy hit Connecticut pretty hard. We were without electricity from Monday afternoon until Friday night - and strangely enough, it happened one year to the day after the Freak October Snow Storm of 2011 that also left us without power for days, which I blogged about here.
Being holed up at my in-laws house for three days left me with a lot of time on my hands, or at least more than I'm used to. And you know what?
I was less productive writing-wise than I would've been if I'd had to lie, cheat, and steal for time like I normally do.
I'd like to blame it on being cold and tired and out of sorts, all of which were factors, but the truth is...
It seriously freaked me out to have time to write.
Some people work better under pressure, and apparently I'm one of them. My words only want to cooperate when they're forbidden fruit, being covertly clicked out between phone calls and purchase orders and cooking meals and scrubbing toilets. Which begs the question - What the hell is wrong with them?
Is it just me, peeps? Or do any of you find that the moments you *can* write are the moments you'd rather do anything but?
On a more serious note, I'm well aware that four days in the dark is nothing compared to what some people faced after the storm. Many homes were destroyed, flooded, or vandalized. Here are some photos taken around my town - my heart goes out to those who lost much more than electricity.
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| This house is about two miles from mine. The worst damage I saw. |
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| Tree in the power lines |
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| Uprooted tree in front of my old house. I lived here during high school. |
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| Mammoth branch that fell in our backyard - thankfully that was all. |
Ugh, that's awful! So glad you didn't have too much damage to the house. And I know what you mean--I write so much more when I don't have enough time to do it.
ReplyDeleteOh, those poor people and their house. Glad yours survived.
ReplyDeleteI write when I write, but I do prefer it when my writing time isn't short. Although if it's too long, I tend to let myself get easily distracted.
Glad you made it through okay. My CT family have been posting pretty much the same pics. Lots of trees down and debris. My bestie in Lyman just got power back yesterday, finally! Poor thing was basically trapped on her street with her family for a couple days because trees and lines were down and covering the roads surrounding hers.
ReplyDeleteFranken-Sandy cut a huge swath across the Northeast and left much to be desired - electricity out, branches everywhere, belongings in other peoples yards. Just glad you survived well. That's what is most important.
ReplyDeleteGod Frankensandy...that B****. Back home in NJ we still don't have power. There's supposed to be a bad windy storm on Wednesday (tomorrow) when they SUPPOSEDLY give us back electricity etc. Oy vey. I'm just so worried for my tiny homestate. *snuggles it* But we're strong, so I know we'll come out okay in the end. I know many people who have lost a lot of things. It really sucks.
ReplyDeleteI also want to say I work best with deadlines but no serious whips ;) Good luck writing again Gina!!
Oh, my gosh, Gina, you are NOT the only one! I know exactly what you mean because I am the exact same way. I swear I get more writing done in the 5-10 minutes it takes my daughter to (noisily) wake up from her nap than the entire time she's sleeping. There's something about knowing my writing time is about to be cut off that really makes me focus. Same for when I steal time throughout the day. I used to think I needed these huge, 3-hour blocks of time (minimum) or I couldn't get anything done. Ha!
ReplyDeleteAs for the pictures, they gave me the shivers. I hope everyone was gone during the storm and no one in your area got hurt.
I know what you mean. When I have serious time available to me, sometimes I can make use of it, but often not. I have to get up and make myself busy in between sentences.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are OK. Out here on the west coast we get strong winds very rarely, which I'm thankful for because my house is surrounded by tall trees.