Mood in Writing

It's funny how mood affects writing.  A busy mind or a decision making week can work its way into anything I write.  Sometimes it's upbeat, and at other times, morbid.  We all walk through those times, so as a writer I am learning to appreciate every mood.  It makes things real and allows others to relate.  I was working on writing about a color last week in the first person, and given my week and where I sat when I began writing, this is what came out.

Blah.  I can be a warm color under iridescent lights, but in florescent I’m just clammy.  I’m as clammy as the patients under my influence, laying on gurneys, waiting for their various procedures.  Beige, the pale yellowish brown color, is given many names to cover its non-descript, emotionless state.  Buff, sand, khaki, coffee, camel, fawn and a few of my favorites, biscuit, and oatmeal, of which the former, patient’s want to upchuck and the latter will blend into the wall upon expulsion.  I’m called ecru though, which is just another word for, you guessed it, beige.

Lacking any distinctive features, hospitals and medical facilities are slathered with ecru.  They’re afraid to paint a mood.  Is this a happy procedure, such as an ultrasound of a new, healthy baby?  Is this a distressing procedure, such as a test to see what ghastly malady is afflicting?  No one wants to set the mood, and no one wants to offend it either.  So here I am, to offer you…nothing.  I am faceless and unremarkable, but with whatever you may be experiencing on your next visit to the doctor, I’ll be benign to your disposition, whatever that may be.  And hopefully, that kindness is exactly what you need.