Well, I’ve just been over to Argh Ink, author Jenny Crusie’s website, where I laughed out loud. She’s come up with a T-shirt she’s thinking of marketing to people who come to her writing workshop.

It would say “Nothing but good times ahead” on the front and “We’re doomed” on the back–which, as Jenny points out, pretty much sums up the mental state of writers.

After four days of living in the  “We’re doomed” mindset, I spent six hours writing in Starbucks today and so tonight I’ve put one little toe back in the  “Nothing but good times ahead” category.

For some reason, there’s no middle ground. As the author Shirley Hazzard said about writing,  “It’s nervous work. The state that you need to write is the state that others are paying large sums to get rid of.”