Stress

I've heard people say that stress was a good motivator to keep working. Keep the money coming in.
Great work if you can get it.
But I'm talking to my Tax Bracket 1 and 2 sistren and brethren. The minimum wage, low wage, no wage job holders who keep Aleve's parent company profitable. Stress, for us plebs, is a constant.
You figure out an outlet, some way to let off steam, release tension. For writers, it's calling the Muse. Wrapping yourself in Inspiration Bacon and wait in the trap to be eaten.
But sometimes Life overachieves. Gives your already diabetic stress level a fourth helping of getting-fucked-over.
It's hard to write like that. For me. Whether it's money, or job, or just the day to day uncertainty of health, wellbeing, and safety, stress will siphon off my creative source. I can't hear the Muse in all the screaming panic static. I think we both cover our ears and say "fuck this" and check out. Into a movie. A book. Nervous cleaning. Meticulous sorting. Meme hunting. Bed cover hiding. Whatever you gotta do.
Fighting stress is hard. Being so very broke, and not even as broke as you were, which was pretty fucking broke. People playing with your lively hood, with no basic dignity of caring how hard they are going to fuck up your life if you didn't catch them while they thought they were being clever.
Still, I punish myself when I feel like I can't produce. When the weight of the world presses down so hard, it starts to feel like it actually is extracting oil, that beautiful place words come from is hard to reach. Not unlike climax under same circumstances.
Forcing it out hurts, makes it disingenuous.
So, all really one can do is pick an escape that is your Inspiration Bacon, so you can lure your writing Patronus from the ether.
Because in times of great stress, Time already feel lost.

Resources: May Haul

I used to watch those YouTube videos of people and their monthly acquisitions. They are entertaining, even gotten some reading suggestions from them. But without internet service, this isn’t something I can keep up on.
However, I did manage to make a guilty pleasure trip to the thrift store and picked up a few great examples of treasures people throw away.
First, I got a Biology textbook. I’m a sucker for a 25 cent textbook. Plus, there is just something about reading a textbook for pleasure that makes it so much more interesting. I got what appear to be a series of three books on business. Those “Who Moved My Cheese” type books. Two are a set, one about their theory of business, the other a “fable” on how they implemented it. The third is about customer interaction. Normally, I don’t find these good reads. They are informative and fascinating. And expensive. I’m not sure if that qualifies as irony or not. But I got them for a song.
In my opinion, you can’t have too many copies of classics. Especially if you really love it. You need a “beater” copy. I have a nice leather-bound works of Shakespeare. That never leaves the shelf. Over time I have accumulated paperback works that get dog-eared, spine-cracked, highlighter marked, pencil notated, and otherwise abused so I can refer to and enjoy these works. So I have another version of Great Expectations. I also picked up The Great Gatsby. This I did not enjoy upon first read. However, after listening to lectures on it, and seeing the recent film (Baz Lurhmann was made to make that movie, by the way, it’s going to define that novel for our generation), I am intrigued to read it again. To see what I can glean out of it.
Then I got two of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 3 and 4. If it’s popular, and I can get it cheap, then I can try it on, see what the fuss is about, take a writer’s eye to it.
These last four are what made the trip worthwhile.
When picking out books like this, you have to stay sharp. Especially in a thrift store. People are more likely to toss books on how to write college papers, essays, legal terminology, MLA or other styles, you get the idea. So, I read the table of contents for relevance and interest.
Writing About Literature by Janet E. Gardner (2009) caught my eye because it’s about writing about writing critically and analytically, along with the works being used. The table of contents’ last entry is “Literary Criticism and Literary Theory.” Sold.
The Structure of Literature: A Guide for Teachers by R. F. Beauchamp (1969) is all about how to deconstruct and extract from great works. This book is so old, it has a Library of Congress Catalog Card Number.  Beauchamp organized several essays by others about teaching different aspects of writing. Plot, style, setting, thirteen total. Simple, succinct, and relevant. Sold.
Punctuate It Right! By Harry Shaw (1963) has an ISBN number. It meticulously goes through each punctuation mark and circumstance of their use. Dated, but looking through it, not much has changed. Except the wheel of metal letter arms striking a ribbon are now pixilated. Sold.
Profiles of Modern American Authors by Bernard Dekle (1969) surprised me. When I opened it up to look at the date of publication, I saw it was printed in Japan. It also has a Library of Congress Catalog Card Number and a Standard Book Number. It even says “Printed in Japan” at the end of the page. What attracted me to this was the 29 author entries, citing an excerpt of their work, and giving them a picture of their life at the time of that work. This book was meant to educate Japanese, either studying English or Literature, in an overview of American Authors. SOLD. Once in a while, you find really cool stuff like this, books that surprise you for their purpose or reach.
That was my Thrift Store Education on this trip. I’m excited to pick these up in earnest, and see what opinion or theory or point of view that I had not considered awaits me.
Any one in any given discipline knows you never stop being a student.