Writing in the Shower - Good Time Management or Loony Toons?

flexwriterblogsonline.net

There is something I’ve just been itching to blog about, but wasn’t  sure how to begin.

It’s about this compulsion - this "need" to write. A writing addiction, so to speak. I have just learnt that there exists a little something called - Hypergraphia. It's an overwhelming urge to write.

I kid you not. This is an actual "thing." Before you get in a huff, muttering, “There you go again Jodi, just making stuff up and claiming it as truth,” I Googled it.

What can I say, I aced Google Research 101.

And according to the, always 100% correct Wikipedia, Hypergraphia, "… is also associated with bipolar disorder. Manic and depressive episodes have been reported to intensify hypergraphia symptoms. Additionally schizophrenics and people with frontotemporal dementia can also experience a compulsive drive to write."

So, that's great news, said no writer ever.

I began to dwell on this whole manic, depressive, schizophrenic “issue.” And yes, I finished top of my class in Dwelling, Stressing , and Awfulizing. Don’t mean to brag, but those are the facts, folks.  Just the facts.

sodahead.com

Another fact: I “hear” voices.

My characters often wake me up, interrupt my shower, and yell at each other whenever they feel the spirit moves them. That’s when I run frantically, grab any scrap of paper, and WRITE it all down. Hypergraphia?  Schizophrenia? Or just plain, old being a writer?

My very helpful pal, Heather Witherden, full-time mom, part-time comic  (again not joking, she’s hilarious), sent me a note on facebook sharing with me a story of a Hypergraphic woman who took wax pens into the shower so she could write while sudsing.

Part of me was shocked. "What a nut," I thought quietly so no one would hear.

But another part, the mom/writer/multi-tasker thought loudly and with verve, “What a frickin’ genius idea!”

Yes, this blog is mostly G-rated, people. Feel free to replace my family friendly expletives with racier PG14 curses. What’s that you say? No one says “racy” anymore? Well, I just did. So that’s…1!

At the end of the day, I’m comfortable with all my urges; to write, to eat copious amounts of chocolate, and to dance whenever I hear a great song.  Perhaps I could rid myself of the urge to clean incessantly, though. Woops. My mistake, I’ve seldom had an urge to clean, let alone incessantly.

Now, I must run. The voices are shouting again. Someone’s fallen into a well and needs to be “written” to safety. And no, there’s no Lassie dog ready to pull her out.

Write On, Hypergrahic Friends! Write On!
(You know you want need to!)

flickr.com