Three Good Things... to Fight the Funk

What do you do when you're in a funk? Any kind of funk- a blogging funk, or a reading funk, or a creative funk, or a work funk, a too-much-winter funk, or a not-enough-balance funk, or a life-in-general kind of funk? The past few weeks have been a lot of (actual, as opposed to blogging) work, and other life things demanding attention, and while they've all been good in their own way, they've also resulted in just not enough time and energy to go around, especially for reading and blogging. And once you start to fall behind, doesn't it seem that the harder it is to start moving forward? And then you get further behind and..... well, you find yourself in a funk.

My best funk-busters are the things that shake me up, take me out of the familiar, and stretch or challenge my mind, body and spirit in some way - I'm finally starting to get back into my modest yoga "practice" (if you can even call it that) - but what a difference. Getting in some non-review writing has been a huge help: we've been running Flash Fiction Challenges over at LitStack.com, and even that very little bit of creative exploration every few weeks does wonders for breaking through the gunk in my head. Also ... don't laugh ... we've been watching a lot of Netflix, in particular, The United States of Tara. While the story is good, I'm most blown away considering Toni Collette acting in this complicated role, bringing such depth and nuance to Tara and each of her alters, and contemplating the process of bringing the written words of such a challenging script to life in a very physical way.

I've also finally made my way to starting some of the fabulous (and, as it turns out, funk-busting reads) that I've been looking forward to in my TBR. Each of these three are so different from other books I've read recently, and from each other. I'm dipping into each of them in turns, a little bit at a time, and absolutely enjoying the exciting variety of language, writing styles, stories and approaches.

1. Kristine Ong Muslim's We Bury the Landscape (forthcoming from Queen's Ferry Press) is a collection of stories inspired by works of art, and I'm loving alternating the reading with googling and studying the images of the paintings. Muslim's stories are tiny but chock full of imagination, imagery and whimsy, and each captures something lovely and perhaps previously unnoticed about each painting.

2. J.A. Pak has described her latest novella So Easy to Love as "chick lit," but ladies, if this is chick lit, it is chick lit for smart chicks. I've only just started, but so far, So Easy to Love is romantic, sharp, observant, and completely enjoyable. I'm also loving how the author is weaving classic movies into the story.

3. After reading and absolutely loving How They Were Found last year, I've been eagerly awaiting Matt Bell's collection Cataclysm Baby (forthcoming from Mudluscious Press). Again, I've only just begun to delve, but as expected, these are taut, superbly written, surprising, and very intense little stories. My only regret is having been too eager and requesting an advance review copy, rather than waiting to buy the final version... because who wouldn't want to have this amazing cover in his/her hands?

More thoughts to come on all of these... but tell me, what do you do when you're in a funk? Share your best funk-busting tips in the comments!

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