Is it just me or are the first four paragraphs of Dickens‘ A Christmas Carol both brilliant and hysterically funny? There seems a significant mood change beginning in the fifth graph, but the first four always crack me up. Combined with his preface, he opens with a joke (a few, really) and has me at hello.
In just a bit over 300 words, Dickens does riffs on the deadness of doornails, the ancestral wisdom in simile, and the ghost of Hamlet’s father that are practically stand-up comedy (mentioning a ghost foreshadows his own tale). We learn that Marley is (definitely!) dead and that he and Scrooge were partners. We learn a bit about their character, particularly Scrooge’s.
One could write an article about those four paragraphs (but I didn’t)!
Reading A Christmas Carol (and seeing as many of the movie versions as possible) is a Christmas tradition of mine. (As is lefse, and the place I’ve counted on to provide it… isn’t this year, so the search is on.) I’ve covered both topics already; they’re not what I sat down to write about.
…
The problem is, every time I sit down to write something, I end up scrapping it or saving it, in both cases because what I’m writing seems utter crap.
It’s not writer’s block; I’m writing plenty. It’s just that I hate — really, really hate — everything I write right now. (Well, not everything. That last bit there was mildly amusing. “write right”!)
But I’m not engaging myself, so it’s obviously break time.
If I don’t see you until, Have a Merry Christmas (or whatever you celebrate — I’m more a Winter Solstice Druid, myself) and a Happy New Year!
I’m gonna go play in the snow or curl up with some books!
[In fact, this blog post was meant to be about shifting moods (hence the title, if you were wondering), but it just wouldn’t turn into anything I wanted to publish.]
Logos con carne 
December 20th, 2013 at 3:57 pm
Merry Christmas to you too Smitty…or Druid Solstice… or day of lights… or?? and may 2014 bring you joy, peace and love!
Diana
December 21st, 2013 at 10:15 am
Or all of the above! 😀 The same to you, Lady Di!
The big (Druid) party is tonight. As of 5:11 (GMT) today, the days start getting longer again!! It’s less than two hours away (if my timezone math is right).
Summer’s coming! 😕
December 21st, 2013 at 1:28 pm
It is only 12:27pm here as I reply. Here’s to longer days! clink, clink. 🙂
December 21st, 2013 at 1:31 pm
I’ll drink to that! (But then I’ll drink to almost anything.)
You must be on what we call “Mountain Time,” so for you the Solstice happened at 10:11. For me, it happened at 11:11, which is kinda weird!
December 21st, 2013 at 1:35 pm
11:11 the wishing hour!
December 21st, 2013 at 1:50 pm
Yeah, apparently! I had no idea it was a thing, until I happened to Google [11:11] one time. Boy, was I surprised!
December 21st, 2013 at 1:05 am
Hay (sighing), here we go again…. Wyrd, why do you have to insist on being a perfectionist even with this blogging thing? 🙂
Well, anyway, go have another break. Hope it does wonders for your spirits. May you not forget to come back. 🙂
December 21st, 2013 at 10:16 am
Heh; if it was a matter of perfection, I’d never post at all!
December 24th, 2013 at 7:33 pm
LOVE Dickens, have read all his works. My friends think I’m crazy.
December 25th, 2013 at 3:41 pm
Heh! I love the line about the future of the Country depending on not questioning ancestral simile. 🙂