Do you ever just get in a “mood”?

My mother forgot my birthday (a few days ago). I did good, didn’t call her and ask why she hadn’t called. About two days later, my writer’s brain kicked in and worried maybe something happened to her. She lives alone. Unless/until she misses work a few days no one would call me to check. Then come Monday she e-mails me about something completely unrelated. I answered her and at the bottom added an “oh, btw…”

Four days late. tsk, tsk

And it put me in a funky mood. The dh remembered. My dad who is notorious for calling me the day after remembered. My great-uncle in Missouri who I haven’t seen in 12 years remembered. My mom, the woman who gave birth to me–not so much. And I found my writing turn a bit … rough. I wrote a very aggressive heavy-petting (not full-blown sex, they weren’t “there” yet) scene. Then a fight scene. And then another. I guess I was channeling my anger/hurt onto the page. I’ve done this before. When the dh pisses me “boom” dead body shows up–in a book. (TRADING FACES… the whole story took place after a whopper of an argument. You see, the dh is a twin and TF is about one dead twin… )

I’ve said many times before that being a writer is as good as therapy. I can get pent up feelings out.

Oddly enough, if I am over-the-top happy, I can’t write. Weird, huh? Anxious, yes. Sad, yes. Giddy, eh, my ADD kicks in or something and there is next to no focus. Regular happy or content I can produce, otherwise I might get depressed at the 70K I’ve written just this year–I’m really not a downer, I swear.

I haven’t really thought how it works plotting-wise. Maybe if I’m in a mood I’d blow crap up–in the book. A dad at a football game (who repeatedly yelled at his stupid kid “freight train”) irked me enough to write a scene derailing a—yes, you guessed it—freight train. I suppose it’s a good use of angst. It’s all fodder for the craft.