The first thing you notice about writing -- and you will keep on noticing this if you continue in it -- is that it's not easy. Oh, it is when the words flow and you type until your fingers are raw and you can't type fast enough because you have the power rushing clear and pure through you. And then there are those minor blocks that make you stop for a moment, but your crafty mind figures out a crafty way around them, and you're off again, leaping paragraphs in a single, effortless bound.
However, we're not talking about those times. We're talking about when it's hard. When the words are pulled out of you so reluctantly that it's an act of bloody self-surgery to put them on paper. When you consider cleaning the entire bathroom with a toothbrush with two bristles in it rather than write another word.
If you're at that point, God love ya. You can take a break from it. Maybe read some books or take a walk to recharge you. Even clean that dirty tub. You can journal or talk to friends online or do research. Take a trip. Try another type of project. Surf the Net writing boards. But at the end, you will have sit back down and write. There is no other cure for not writing other than writing.
If it helps, we all suffer from it eventually. No writer is immune. And never trust one that says he or she is. They're liars or hacks and always will be. It breaks some writers. They choose other lives, and more power to them. May they be happy. But you and me, we're writers. At the end of the day, it's those words on the paper that we crave.
So sit down at your keyboard or pick up your pen. Take a deep breath. Remember it's not torture and it's not brain surgery. And then put down some words. Any words. They may be crap, but by gum, they're your crappy words. Keep at it. It's the only way to make it through and feel that glorious pure power again. I will and you will, too.
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6 comments:
The thing about the news biz is, whenever you get stuck like that, say on a feature or something soft, it's easy to find some set of facts that need to be written up. "Oh, a semi-tractor trailer truck loaded with weanling pigs overturned on the interstate? Mind if I tackle that? Thanks!" Or, you can always go relieve the obit writer for a half-hour. Of course, you're talking about fiction, of which I know zip. I simply can't imagine -- and that, I suppose, is the very key -- sitting down and conjuring up facts and characters and cirumstances and such. I need mine handed to me, please. I can put 'em into story form. But I've never been able to come up with the raw materials out of scratch. Of course, I've hardly ever tried.
When I hit such block, I start thinking of ways to kill the characters. "They" don't like that and start arguing with me or, better yet, figure out how to get out of the death trap.
So far they've all made it and the block goes away.
This is the joy of blogging -- being able to see other writers as they struggle and to see them enjoying other aspects of their lives as well. It can be a good reminder to get up, walk around, get out of the house at times to see the world through new eyes.
Sometimes something I read in your blog jogs a thought in my brain that turns out to be the magic key. Or I'll read something by ThePress about Bird and it will bring back a decade filled with memories.
What's happened for me is a change in direction -- I started out to write one book and I discover it was only supposed to be a chapter in a different book.
It's been a fun and exciting discovery!
You're so close to the finish line that I feel like we're passing you paper cups filled with Gatorade and cheering you on. Keep on running! You need to finish, and we need to see you finish so we'll know the race is worth running.
TECH, you make even writers block interesting! :)
-Susan
You should write a book about writing or give a class at Forward Motion. You look at writing with exceptional clarity. I appreciate it.
Thanks, to Tech and to all of you who commented, it makes me feel better to know that writers block is real. Of course you hear about it, but I am glad that it is something everyone deals with. I lost several chapters in my book when I got up from my computer without saving the data and my power went out. Good lesson. Ever since, I have had the hardest time trying to go on, I just keep thinking about the way I approached it before. I have struggeled to replace the lost material. I have almost made it to the part where I ended up before. I "just keep swimming, just keep swimming...... susan2
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