why is it....

Can someone explain this writerly phenomenon to me? I know I'm not the only person it happens to, so there has to be some explanation (I can almost hear Leonard Nimoy's "In Search Of..." voice introducing the topic).

Why, when I sit to write with nothing in my head--no topic, no preference for genre, just one of those sessions when I want to write and am dying to scratch something out with my fountain pen--do I end up unable to write anything? In those moments I'd sell my soul for a muse's voice but end up with a bunch of doodles in the margin.

However, when I'm writing something, and this almost always happens on a deadline (which interestingly was yesterday and I had to ask for my first extension EVER as writer--not a good feeling), every idea in the universe comes to me, begging for attention.

I'm now up to chapter 9 and finding that creating a business marketing plan is a little more exciting writing than chapter 8, human resources. I have about 6K words to finish by Monday (that's why I'm blogging...LOL) and took one quick break to check for an email from the editor. As always, a Yahoo headline caught my eye. I clicked on the page link and before it could load, I had an idea for a series of books based on the title. These are good books, too--all nonfiction, all stuff I know about, all salable topics and have that little gimmick factor built in. I quickly grabbed the fountain pen and scribbled my heart out in a brainstorming session.

What stinks is that I can't even begin to let the idea simmer in the old noggin. I have to stay focused on this book and get it done. I'm over the "I hate this book and what would it matter if I didn't finish writing it?" phase (you writers know what I mean), and coming near the end of the tunnel (chapter 11, here I come...), but still--I have lots to do and no time for anything new.

Actually, I think I know the answer. It's the universe's way of pranking the creative writer. Hmmm...maybe I should do a little research on that topic....