Writing is a task of the soul, or so I've always felt. It's something that requires the very best of you at all times. And whether you view it as a task or a pleasure, there are so many outside elements and distractions that can and will affect your writing that sometimes it seems as if you are fighting a losing battle when you'd rather be in the midst of world-building or creating an amazing bit of dialogue. Can the weather be yet another possible obstacle to your writing? Can Mother Nature be so cruel as to joust with your poor embattled muse over control of your mood and creativity? The answer, of course, is yes. Some writers, my self included, love to write while it's raining. There's something inherently romantic, maybe even visceral, about sitting down to your work while the world drowns outside your window. There are a lot of other writers however that say that their moods are so affected by the rainy weather that they find it nearly impossible to get any writing done.
Andressa Andrade, a Brazilian Mental health advocate, states:
"Well, it turns out that yes, science backs up the idea that sunlight makes you happier. According to my research, sunlight has the power to give the body a cue to release more serotonin. Serotonin is known as the “happiness hormone”. It lifts our moods, gives us more energy and increases our concentration. Low levels of serotonin are one of the typical symptoms of depression — the mental illness, I mean. So when it’s raining a lot and you don’t get enough sunlight, that can lower your serotonin levels and trigger what we call “seasonal affective disorder” (SAD), a type of depression that comes when the seasons change. But rainy weather doesn’t always make people sad. There are people who prefer cloudy days to sunny ones. I for one, love them. I like reading a good book under the blankets while listening to the sound of the rain. Scientific research has shown that people can be divided into four groups: Summer Lovers, Summer Haters, Rain Haters and Unaffected (people whose mood is not altered by changes in the weather). You may be a Rain Hater, but not all of us are.
I also believe — and this is a personal belief, not linked to any of my research — that we are culturally conditioned to associate rain with sadness. Have you ever noticed how it almost always rains when everything goes wrong in movies?"
So if you find yourself less than eager to get into that novel, short-story or poem you were working on while it's raining, you may now understand why... or why not. As I mentioned before, writing is a task of the soul, it's a very deep and personal thing, no matter what you're writing. And, like it or not, your writing is usually deeply influenced by the world around and inside us. Some of the best love songs ever written were written by people who had suffered the loss of a loved one. Outside influences, no matter how much we try to insulate ourselves and our writing from them, can still trigger feelings that we may not even be fully aware of... like the rush of emotion you may experience upon hearing an old song or catching a whiff of a particular perfume... rain can do that too. And it doesn't have to be negative. Maybe the rain outside can somehow make it inside your work-in-progress:
“The rain continued. It was a hard rain, a perpetual rain, a sweating and steaming rain; it was a mizzle, a downpour, a fountain, a whipping at the eyes, an undertow at the ankles; it was a rain to drown all rains and the memory of rains.” - Ray Bradbury.
In his article, Rainy Day Writing, Bryan Cohen tackles the same subject:
"Rainy day writing can be a difficult task for people who let the weather affect their mood and productivity. I choose my words carefully here, "people who let the weather affect (them)." It shouldn't be a surprise to you that most people (probably including you) like to absolve themselves of responsibility. I know there are conditions such as Seasonal Affect Disorder that can really mess with a person when he's trying to get something done, but most who have issues during cold, windy or rainy days are letting the weather get to them. Sometimes, you need to take control of your life by taking control of your mood. As I'm working on this post, I'm engaging in a bit of rainy day writing myself. It would be silly for me to claim that this is an easy task, since I used to be one of those folks who would, in the words of Milli Vanilli, "Blame it on the rain." Much like that band's fake singing, blaming a lack of productivity on the rain doesn't have a lot of substance. I recall back in my coffee shop days when I would ask people how they were and they would respond, "Well, it's raining outside." They would respond as if the weather was directly related to their mood. Isn't that kind of a crappy way to live? Completely dictated by something you can't control?"
It is indeed a "crappy way to live." It's also a crappy excuse for not getting any writing done. Look, as I was doing the research for this blogpost, I found something uniquely suited for those of us that refuse to let something as trivial as a little rain affect our ability to write. I share it with you below:
Rite in the Rain All-Weather Top-Spiral Notebook
https://www.amazon.com/Rite-Rain-All-Weather-Top-Spiral-946/dp/B000ZZTUEM
That's right, Amazon sells a waterproof notebook which can be used to write in the rain, and it's called the "Rite." Now honestly, I can't vouch for how well this item actually works, but I find it intriguing that someone thought of it at all, and then made it happen. If any of you out there have used it, please write me and let me know your thoughts.
Anyway, it looks like the rain is letting up for now, so I guess I'll take a break from my writing and make a quick trip to the local bodega to pick up some milk for my coffee.
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