Rainy Days

From Cheryl's Writing Crate

It's Thursday.  It's raining.  No--it's pouring!  Oh, and it's May Day!  Not exactly the way we hope to welcome one of my favorite months (ok, it's my birthday month--you've got to love your birthday month, right?)--the month where the buds on the trees start to explode with lush green and the temps finally start to wander from the 40's to a much more pleasant 50's and 60's.  

I don't mind rainy days because the offer up opportunities for enjoying the things I love to do indoors--clean and organize my home (yes, a sickness, I know), bake cookies or dabble in the kitchen with new recipes, and of course writing.  Normally, a day like this would have me jumping up and down, but I've had bronchitis for the past few days and don't feel like doing much of anything so I thought for today's post I'd honor this monsoon of a day with a blog post from a writer's blog that I frequent often-- I Am Fae Esperas.    Below is her post from June 29, 2013 called 5 Reasons Rainy Days are the Best to Write.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Writing is never an easy task, even for those who believe that they are born with the talent. Hey, I’ve been dreaming of becoming a writer since I was 5, and while I could say that I am already living the dream, to be frank it isn’t easy. Like many of my fellows, I am bound for sleepless nights, deadly deadlines, and boring topics. Not to mention the limited freedom and creativity bestowed on my hands.

Many writers could relate to this. Since this job couldn’t be done at the snap of the fingertips, we writers often look for the right moment to start the dirty work. Yes, we wait for the right timing, may it be after a breakup or just a few hours before the deadline, it depends. As for me though, after all these years of switching from pens to keyboards and back, I realized that if there’s one perfect setting to write, that would be on a rainy day.

Why so? Here are my reasons.

1. The rain is just too damn inspiring to look at.

Many love stories start with the girl looking out the window on a rainy afternoon while sipping a cup of coffee. And from there, we can expect that romance is about to blossom any minute soon-i.e. the girl will finally stumble upon her prince charming at the most unrealistic way possible.

The same goes with writing. The rain sets a certain atmosphere that’s just very much conducive for the brain to churn ideas, thus we feel the knack to write. Staring outside the window helps too-you watch the raindrops drag themselves down the glass pane and you fall in love with the way they do it. You too would feel the itch to create some drama, and while you can’t do it like the raindrops, you’d just let your hands do the works.

2. Cold weather, cool brain.

The hot weather during the past days is one of the reasons why I stumbled upon a writer’s slump. It wasn’t just hot per se, it was muggy. I feel sleepy because of the heat of the day, and while I try to write, I still end up surrendering to my body clock at night. So as a result, I had low productivity.

This morning’s weather was a major game changer for me, writing wise. Finally, it rained-it was cold but refreshing, a bit crisp but totally relaxing. My brain enjoyed most of the day and I found myself writing one project article during the peak of the supposed siesta hours. So yay!

3. The pitter-patter is just too noisy.

Even if you’re living in a concrete apartment, you’d still hear the rain from the outside, especially when it’s pouring really hard. And when it rains during the wake of the night, would you be able to sleep as soundly as usual? I don’t.

Well, it’s not just the pitter-patter that bothers me. It easily floods in my place so I’m often wary of the water coming inside the house. So yes, when it rains at night, I make it a point to stay up, and write with all my might before a power outage occurs.

4. Rainy days call for comfort food.

What do we feed on during the rainy days? A hot cup of chocolate, o bowl of porridge, or a serving of gooey mac-and-cheese. Well, when we get the comfort we need, the more inspired we become in terms of working-and in this case, writing. It’s mainly because we’d want to share the overflowing joy and comfort we felt with the dish we devoured.

5. With rain comes the brownout.

In my place, power outages, or brownouts, often take place during heavy rains. You can blame it on the utility providers, but aside from ranting, what else can we do?

So yeah, whenever it rains especially in my part of the world, I feel the itch to write. It’s because I’d want to make the most of the time while electricity is up and running, and send everything I have to submit before the lines get cut off. That way, I can relax once a brownout happens, and not freak out on missing deadlines and client-related drama.

Crazy as it sounds, but I could attest that rainy days are the definitely the best times to write. After all, when else can you enjoy a cozy romantic moment in front of the computer these days?

Do rainy days inspire your writing?