Philosophy | Cathy C. Hall Writes

Well, I, for one, did not know that today is National Doodle Day. (That’s Neil Gaiman’s Doodle. Looks remarkably like something a Junior Hall drew in the 4th grade. )

But I kinda like this doodle idea.

I know most of us think of doodling as drawing little squiggles or curves, making silly little pictures on a piece of paper. We doodle in a class when the teacher gets boring. We doodle at a conference when the speaker gets repetitive. We doodle at church when the sermon drags.

Or maybe that’s just me. The point is, most of the time, we doodle when our mind’s not completely occupied. But have you ever let your mind doodle? When you’re occupied with some boring chore, like pulling weeds, or painting outside furniture, or scrubbing a tub, haven’t you let your mind wander? Sort of like a mental doodle?

I doodle out a plot problem while I’m planting a row of pansies. I doodle out an idea for a column while I’m washing my hair. I doodle a character’s traits while I’m unloading the dishwasher. When I mentally doodle, thoughts ramble about here and there. I may not have a substantive solution, but I will have a starting point, or perhaps a couple of points to develop.

The problem with mentally doodling is that, if you’re not careful, your wonderful doodle will go poof! Unlike your squiggles from your 10th grade notebook (Cathy + Tommy 4ever), thoughts and ideas may not stick around unless you take a moment to write them out.

Although, honestly, I have a couple doodled notes that make absolutely no sense to me now. Sort of like Tommy 4ever. I have NO idea who Tommy was.

So I’ve absolutely, positively finished the last of the edits on my YA manuscript. I’ve even started a new Middle Grade idea, and fleshed out where I want the story to go. I really, really need to get cracking on that agent query and put words on paper for the MG manuscript. And yet…I seem to be stuck in piddling mode.

You know what I mean by piddling? It’s that frittering away of time on little tasks that kinda, sorta should be done but honestly, you could let go. That chair you painted five years ago that could use a second coat? You’ve let it go all this time, but suddenly, you piddle around, looking for that can of paint…and do you have a brush? Maybe you could just dash to the store and pick up another one. And before you know it, you’ve piddled around the entire day and all you have to show for it (maybe) is a freshly painted chair.

Pondering on my piddling has led me to the inevitable conclusion: Piddling is keeping me from facing that agent-querying task. It’s ever so hard to put one’s heart and soul out there, even if you’ve had years of practice. But now I’m declaring this a No Piddle Zone. It’s GO time on that query!

Um, but before I go, I have to share what Juniorette Hall brought to my attention yesterday on a shoe-shopping expedition. “Look at this,” she said, pointing to the little silica gel packet. “Do not eat” was printed on it. The quotation marks are theirs, not mine.

Which of course, made me think of the “blog” of “unnecessary” quotation marks. I mean, why would you put Do Not Eat in quotation marks on this packet? Maybe, really, it’s okay to eat silica gel. Or maybe…oh, shoot. See?

There I go, piddling again.