![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
So, about that writer's block... I kind of have it -- though not really.
It's true that it has been more than two months since I last posted a chapter, and it's true that whenever I tried to right that wrong, nothing would come of it, except some poorly constructed drivel that took hours to come up with. It's true that I was getting severely frustrated with it until I realized that I was the one putting pressure on myself and giving myself a block. I guess my problem with writing is more that I just have too much going on right now, and I don't WANT to write. So I'm not.
This is where I am at right now in my writing (or not writing, as the case may be):
Whew! Makes it easier to take a break when there is sensible advice like that out there to remind me it's okay -- just what some of my friends have been telling me, too, actually. ;-) Still, maybe now that the Hubby is back safe and sound, and I have a better feel for the fact that I am writing to please myself and I can do it whenever I want to, I just might have another go at the writing...
For some really excellent stuff on what writer's block is and isn't and how to deal with it (and how not to), go to The Writer's Block -- that's where I got the above excellent quote, and there's lots more there that is helpful as well as comforting.
For some not-quite-in-the-same-vein advice on how to deal with writer's block, but which is incidentally extremely hilarious, click on this little tidbit from the Dilbert Blog. May I suggest you not be drinking or eating in front of your computer when you read this? I do suggest that. ;-)
"One of the most common questions I get is “Do you ever get writer’s block?”
The thing I love about that question is that it reveals a wonderful optimism in the person who is asking. I suspect that the people who ask this question believe they possess deep wells of creativity and talent that are inexplicably blocked. All they need is the secret unblocking spell from a cartoonist and then a geyser of bestselling books will spray forth.
I wish I had that kind of attitude. I imagine myself asking an NBA player how he deals with Jumper’s Block, under the theory that if I can learn how to unblock my jumping skills, I will no longer need a car. I’ll just jump wherever I want to go, like the Hulk, but less angry.
Unfortunately I’m too literal to answer the writer’s block question in some useful way. I can’t get past the common sense that I always have writer’s block up until the moment I have an idea. It’s sort of a binary situation.
The better question would be how I get past writer’s block. The quick answer – and maybe the only legitimate one – is that I’m just wired that way. There’s a fine line between creative and goofy, and believe me, you wouldn’t want to spend time in my head. Let me give you some real time examples, except not real time. I’m on a plane as I write this. Allow me to write down my thoughts as they happen, just so you get a sense of it. I haven’t planned this:
Okay, that’s enough of that. Just be glad you’re not me."
It's true that it has been more than two months since I last posted a chapter, and it's true that whenever I tried to right that wrong, nothing would come of it, except some poorly constructed drivel that took hours to come up with. It's true that I was getting severely frustrated with it until I realized that I was the one putting pressure on myself and giving myself a block. I guess my problem with writing is more that I just have too much going on right now, and I don't WANT to write. So I'm not.
This is where I am at right now in my writing (or not writing, as the case may be):
"SOMETHING'S PERCOLATING / BRAIN'S RECHARGING -- Here are two reasons for not writing that every writer can embrace and celebrate, because they mean that, to quote science fiction writer Spider Robinson, "you ARE writing, you're just not TYPING yet." But how to tell the difference? Is this quiet spell the happy silence of little gray cells puttering away or is it the echoing silence of the void? Most writers get a feel for the idea percolation process, but it's a subtle distinction and hard to distinguish through a haze of writer's block panic. The other end of the process, brain recharging, may hit in the middle of a roll, after you've successfully completed one project with the intention of just breezing through to another. The sudden bout of lassitude, disinterest and the longing to be anywhere but in front of the word processor can be very panic-inducing, particularly when it goes on for a while.
Instead of jumping to conclusions on either front, give yourself a chance to sort things out. Take a break from writing for a while, test the waters occasionally, work on something else, but above all, listen to your inner voice. If it tells you nothing's broke, don't rush to fix it."
Whew! Makes it easier to take a break when there is sensible advice like that out there to remind me it's okay -- just what some of my friends have been telling me, too, actually. ;-) Still, maybe now that the Hubby is back safe and sound, and I have a better feel for the fact that I am writing to please myself and I can do it whenever I want to, I just might have another go at the writing...
For some really excellent stuff on what writer's block is and isn't and how to deal with it (and how not to), go to The Writer's Block -- that's where I got the above excellent quote, and there's lots more there that is helpful as well as comforting.
For some not-quite-in-the-same-vein advice on how to deal with writer's block, but which is incidentally extremely hilarious, click on this little tidbit from the Dilbert Blog. May I suggest you not be drinking or eating in front of your computer when you read this? I do suggest that. ;-)
"One of the most common questions I get is “Do you ever get writer’s block?”
The thing I love about that question is that it reveals a wonderful optimism in the person who is asking. I suspect that the people who ask this question believe they possess deep wells of creativity and talent that are inexplicably blocked. All they need is the secret unblocking spell from a cartoonist and then a geyser of bestselling books will spray forth.
I wish I had that kind of attitude. I imagine myself asking an NBA player how he deals with Jumper’s Block, under the theory that if I can learn how to unblock my jumping skills, I will no longer need a car. I’ll just jump wherever I want to go, like the Hulk, but less angry.
Unfortunately I’m too literal to answer the writer’s block question in some useful way. I can’t get past the common sense that I always have writer’s block up until the moment I have an idea. It’s sort of a binary situation.
The better question would be how I get past writer’s block. The quick answer – and maybe the only legitimate one – is that I’m just wired that way. There’s a fine line between creative and goofy, and believe me, you wouldn’t want to spend time in my head. Let me give you some real time examples, except not real time. I’m on a plane as I write this. Allow me to write down my thoughts as they happen, just so you get a sense of it. I haven’t planned this:
I wonder if you could make gigantic noise-cancellation headphones to put on the outside of the plane so all the passengers don’t need them on the inside?
Damn, this was a stupid idea to write down my thoughts. Now I don’t have any, except for my thoughts about not having any thoughts. Oh, God, I’m stuck in some sort of loop.
Wait, now I have a thought about the drunken lady’s glass of wine on the seat divider next to me. It’s rocking wildly from the turbulence. It’s going to land on my keyboard. Oh, God, I know it is. Uh-oh, I think she looked over here and read that I called her a drunken lady. My hands hurt from typing. I have to pee again but the seatbelt sign is on. If she dozes off, I might have to top off her chardonnay.
Okay, that’s enough of that. Just be glad you’re not me."
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-03-27 01:20 pm (UTC)From:Anyway, I am about to go to work. I would really like to jump there like the Hulk but less angry, (that killed me!) but I imagine I will have to drive my car. How unecessarily limiting! ;)
(((Lin)))
no subject
Date: 2006-03-27 02:27 pm (UTC)From:I'm going to try some of the hints listed on the site to see if I can get un-writer's-blocked today -- if I really am, that is. ;-)
Thanks for this great post!!
Date: 2006-03-27 05:24 pm (UTC)From:I loved the quotes from the Dilbert guy. they were so funny!
I actually wrote a bit the other morning and I was both shocked and pleased. Maybe I will eventually binish my story too. I am hoping to be able to post something from it before the end of March, being the return to ME month, and all....
Thanks again!
Re: Thanks for this great post!!
Date: 2006-03-28 04:12 am (UTC)From:Glad I could help, hee!
no subject
Date: 2006-03-27 09:06 pm (UTC)From:somewhere I read lately that "Any thing worth doing takes more then one lifetime"
I am just glad we have shared so much so far.
picture me as Gandalf the White in Gondor awaiting the coming assualt, so I await your tales.
Love,
Tom
no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 04:14 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2006-03-27 11:18 pm (UTC)From: (Anonymous)no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 04:15 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 12:04 pm (UTC)From:Something also just struck me now--I was expecting to breeze on to a completely different part of the story, in which my character is at a completely different place in terms of emotion and situation, so it probably would not have worked to glide from one right to the other anyway.
Bookmarking that site, and I LOVE the Dilbert blog! LOL!
no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 01:26 pm (UTC)From: