Writers Brain

When I was writing my Masters thesis many moons ago I spent 99% of my time holed up in my room hunched over a laptop attempting to force words out onto the page and trying not throw myself out of the nearest window (which would have been especially dangerous as I lived in the roof of a rather sizeable church back then).

So desperate was I for personal contact with other humans that I went to Starbucks every afternoon and ended up having many wide and varied conversations with an eighty year old lady who I suspect was out for much the same thing. Now that I have dedicated writing days (hurrah!) I am remembering why I needed my afternoon outings and am suffering again with what I call 'Writers Brain'.

The symptoms, besides speaking to randoms in coffee shops, are a fuzzy head, an inability to form coherent thoughts, an alarming amount of time on Twitter/Facebook and much vacant staring into space. You will be able to spot someone with writers brain by the presence of pyjamas at midday and the inordinately large amount of caffeine they can consume.

When I was doing my thesis I actually began to think there might be something wrong with my brain altogether. It is a very strange and disconcerting feeling to be trying to force thoughts to form and coming up with such great innovations as 'Is that a bird outside? Cool.' I started eating brain enhancing foods like eggs and nuts but to little avail. I tried a brisk walk but that just made me want to nap. I tried working in coffee shops but that just lead to the aforementioned chatting with old ladies. Chocolate chunk shortbread helped for a while but did bring an afternoon sugar lull which also led to napping. All roads seemed to lead to napping and very few to a completed thesis.

I am now suffering from the same condition, pyjamas/vacant staring and all. I haven't yet started accosting people in Starbucks but I fear it is not far off. So this, dear blog readers, is where you come in - any one have any brain power boosting techniques that don't involve giving up and watching Gilmore Girls? My sanity thanks you.