Tuesday, March 9, 2010

When a post is hard to write...

My profoundest apologies to you all if you've been checking here over the last couple of weeks only to find nothing new. Some of you have even written me asking me if everything was all right, and I can assure you all that it is.

I just set about writing a post about madeleines and my grandfather which I meant to post last week, and wouldn't you know, it's the hardest damn post I've ever had to write. I have so many things to say about him, though I don't mean to say them all, but just the few of so many things I could say have to be exactly right, and I'm finding it terribly difficult to strike the right tone, turn out the right prose, and the thing is that I'm incredibly stubborn...and not in a good way. So instead of writing an interim post until I got it right, I just kept thinking to myself, tomorrow, tomorrow is the day I will get it right. And many tomorrows have come since then.

So, while I don't know which day exactly it is going to be, I can promise that it is going to be very soon, and in the meantime please take a look at what happens when I procrastinate (aka here as avoision or the cohesion of avoidance and aversion) and mess around with photos and settings in Aperture. I don't have time to be playing these games people, and yet here I am playing them.

What do you do when you procrastinate/have avoision?

P.S.: Is it that obvious that I covet a medium format camera?

Sepia Kensington Gardens

Seagulls B&W

Seagulls B&W

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15 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm a terrible procrastinator, always doing whatever the opposite is of what I'm supposed to be doing. I spent my university years addicted to Ready Steady Cook until the afternoon when I'd handed in my final essay (the procrastination leading up to which is an entirely different story). Free to watch RSC guilt free, I thought to myself, what a load of rubbish, turned it off and have never again watched it in the 14 years since.

If I'm meant to be cooking, the housework and computer tempt me, if I've got bureaucratic phonecalls and emails to deal with, the kitchen calls me and if I'm meant to be doing housework you can bet I'll be on the computer again. It's a miracle I manage anything.

Take your time with the madeleines post, I'm sure it will be worth waiting for.

S said...

oh, dear H, it is the quality of your work which is impt to us, not the amount of times you post. it is so very hard to write smthg about someone one loves. i was supposed to write smthg about my mum in law this weekend but the words and the inspiration just didnt comeout. so i set it aside. i watched a lovely DVD, Entre les murs, and met a friend for a coffee after that. we look forward to seeing your post when it comes to you, naturally, about madeleines and your dear grandfather. x shayma

Jamie said...

Hilda, these pictures are GORGEOUS and breathtaking! Wow! If I could only be that creative when I procrastinate! But I am just like you about my writing. I'll go back and forth, up and down, inside out until I get it just exactly right and until then I just don't post! Ah, that must be our creative genius! And when I procrastinate I eat.And read. And iron (yes, sad, isn't it) and bake.

Anonymous said...

gorgeous photos here, wow ! thank you for these words here, for sharing what many of us go through oftentimes - writing is not easy. there are so many emotions that can go with - difficult yet a pleasure to discover them while writing too. just think how fulfilled you will feel when this post is written - and by that i mean, perhaps in a few months, or more.

meanwhile, rock on with yet another neologism. what was the other i saw you promoting on twitter, "whelmed" ? ;)

oh, and when i procrastinate... i read my friends' new blog posts LOL ! ;) or rearrange my chocolate drawer and file away new chocolate bar wrappers (um, should i have admitted that here ??), ha ha !

Notes From ABroad said...

The photos are lovely and moody and I love them.
It would take me at least a year to be able to figure out how to get into words the man that was my grandfather, the way he influenced my life in the smallest and most important ways and I understand completely your block at this point :)
I am happy to know that all is well, you are just hitting a wall ( of a sort) ... chau
Candice

Meeta K. Wolff said...

i think you write down how many of us feel, especially when it is about sharing something so close. i know that feeling and have often felt it when i wanted to write something that meant a lot to me.

when i procrastinate i too play around with, in my case, lightroom! or go arrange my props and fabric according to colors or simply take my camera for a walk.

sending you warm hugs H.x

Asha @ FSK said...

:) I guess we all have that.. I suppose they call it bloggers' block! :)

Weird as it is, when I feel muddled or just not right, I take a nice hot shower. Somehow it always clears my head and soothes me. the world feels a better place after..LOL

beautiful photos :)

diva said...

Seagull! :) Beautiful photos Hilda. Suppose you're going through a block now but it will come back to you soon. It'll flush out soon I'm sure!

By the way, even your interim post is beautiful to read so I can't wait for the next. x

Rambling Tart said...

Oh, I'm SO happy you shared your "play" with us! :-) I love these photos so much. :-) They make me feel peaceful and happy and free-spirited, like I've just gone on a hand-in-hand walk with my love. Beautiful. :-)

Sari @ Cook Your Dream said...

You can't even imagine how good it feels to know I'm not alone in this. I'm the master of procrastination. Unfortunately. My apartment was always wonderfully clean and tidy during my university studies! And now? I'm like Sarah. Always doing the opposite of what i'm supposed to be doing ;) Sometimes I'm amazed how good I'm at thinking up things to do in order to avoid anything I should do. Just check the dates of my last two posts! And it took my one week to finish my last one.
But you definitely don't need to worry. We will be happily waiting for the post! And if you will post such beautiful photos in the meantime, it will be even happier waiting! ;)

L Vanel said...

We can wait. It's always better to get it right, and if it takes you awhile, so be it.

Unknown said...

Quality over quantity - it's supposed to be fun so take your time

Lien said...

love your pictures. You seem to make very good use of your time when you procrastinate.
This blogblock happens a lot all around (I'm very familiar with it lately myself), everybody gets a visit and time flies by without even being noticed. I procrastinate behind the computer where my time is greedily eaten away (and i feel bad afterwards). Things that are close to you are hard to write down for all to see, but at some point you'll know how to.

cocopuff1212 said...

I actually first read this article the day you posted it, but I keep coming back. To look at these incredible photos.

So, as far as I'm concerned, it's okay that you procrastinate :)

Esther said...

I think I know exactly how you feel (felt). I've just got over a phase of wanting to post and then procastinating, not being able to write. You get over it. I found it helpful,when I didn't have anything to say, I just wrote what I felt like writing. And if I had a lot to say but hadn't the nerve to type it all out, lest phrase it in coherent sentences, I wrote what was essential, even if it turned out more or less disconnected and weird.
Love your photos!

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