A Blithesdale Romance

Every time I feel too tired to write I am reminded of this grand social experiment that Nathaniel Hawthorne and a handful of his fellow artists planned out and attempted to execute.  Likely the primary solid piece of work that actually came from this experiment was the fictional account, A Blithesdale Romance, that is based on that time.

The idea was that this commune of sorts would seek out and develop this plot of land, work the fields, the animals, clean house, and essentially perform all tasks necessary to keep a small, self sustainable country home running.  Then at night, invigorated from the pure, natural work done under God's sky, their creative juices would flow.

Ha.

By the end of the first week they realized that every night they were so exhausted all they wanted to do was crash and burn.  No one has the energy to push out serious artistic work at the end of a long, hard day's work.  (See Virginia Woolf and A Room of One's Own.)

For some reason beyond me (oh yea, Christmas is right around the corner), I have agreed to teach a full day's classes for the next five Sundays.  Here I am, Sunday night, too tired to write. 

So I stole from Nathatniel Hawthorne and Virginia Woolf to fill space and make my fingers move across the keys for a short time in acquiescence to the deal I made with myself to write every night.

Do you feel cheated?