The Hague Online's 'Writer in Residence' Jo Parfitt is musing about . . .

Every Cloud has a Silver Lining

"It feels like it has been raining for weeks," said my friend Julie this morning, as I shook the raindrops from my hair and stamped my wet feet on her doormat. Being English, I admit to being a bit obsessed with the weather. I like to work near a window so I can see the sunshine or the cloud and invariably the amount of light in the sky affects my mood and motivation. And now, as the days draw in and I write this at 5pm when the view from my window is completely black, it can be hard to be inspired when there is nothing to see outside at all.

Writers cannot allow the weather to affect them. Not if they are to continue to produce good work, and get paid for it. Professional writers cannot afford to have writer’s block and blame it for missing a deadline. No, real writers have to ignore the grey sky and continue to pull dazzling prose out of their grey matter.

Sometimes, the worst circumstances can produce the finest writing. Like the day I heard a deafening bang, we had a power surge and every piece of electrical equipment in the house that had a power supply spewed white smoke and died. Even then, as I sat at my computer, realising typing was impossible and regretting not backing up for months, I knew all was not lost. I knew that this catastrophic event would make a funny story and that I would sell that funny story. And I did, several times.

You see, the reason our equipment went up in a puff of smoke was because the wiring in our house was faulty and every time our washing machine began its spin cycle the electricity would trip. It was because of this daily tripping that we called in the experts. And our disaster happened because the experts were there in the house and on the case. The loud bang had been caused by one of the experts getting an electric shock and falling off the washing machine. The same event had killed our television, fax machine, stereo and two computers.

When Hurricane Ike hit Houston, expat Laura Daniels, crouched in the dark in her boarded house and realized that this experience was a story in the making. So, even when they still had no electricity, she was using a neighbour’s computer to write a compelling story that she placed with the Weekly Telegraph.

Wilfred Owen was filled with sadness at the futility of war when he wrote Dulce et Decorum Est. Bad things can make great writing. They say that the best writing comes from a place of pain. Certainly my best poetry comes to me when I am feeling sad, lonely or angry.

So, you see, even though the day was wet and cold and grey and the view from my window is invisible because of the dark sky I still found the inspiration to write something. Every cloud has a silver lining.

Jo Parfitt

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