To be honest, I haven't written anything in about three weeks. After a fabulous Jan. and Febr., I've run out of steam. I guess I'm facing the old writer's block. Going out of town for a few days and getting sick didn't help. But now it's just plain writer's block. How do I get the wheels spinning again? I've seen many posts that help you break out of writer's block.
I know the only real way to do it is to start writing: just write anything to get the juices flowing. But, right now, I'm just unable to do it. The past few weeks, I've told myself "Monday I've got to start writing a story". But the past few Mondays have been tied up with doctors' appointments for either me, my wife, or my grandson. Just can't get started. Then Tuesdays haven't been much better. Oh, I have a thousand excuses. The truth is that I just can't do it right now.
So I've been doing some other things.
I've started developing my website. It's nowhere near ready to go live. I'm just beginning to format the first page. So far it says R Patrick Hughes as the title and the next line says Author. That's it. That's as far as I've gotten. But it's pretty thrilling to see that I've actually got something, that it is possible to do it. It'll probably take me months to finally go live with it.
I listened to a terrific interview between authors CJ Lyons and Joanna Penn. the creative penn (I tried to link up to the actual interview, but couldn't figure out how). Ms Lyons doesn't blog, tweet, or participate in any social media, if I remember correctly. She only has a website. And she has millions of sells. She says blogs are for writers (not your readers). Websites are for your readers. Readers aren't interested in your writing life; they are interested in your product, and that's what the website is for. So I'm jumping on the website bandwagon. I just can't afford to pay someone two or three thousand dollars to do it for me. So, I'll just do it myself.
If I'm truly suffering from writer's block, I at least want to spend the time productively.
How about you? Have you suffered from writer's block? How do you overcome it? Do you have a website? Do you want to set one up?
15 comments:
Richard, I never subscribe to the advice that I writer has to write every day. Sure, I'm not the most productive writer. But I don't care.
Basically what I'm saying is that you are not alone. I sometimes go for weeks if not months not writing anything. But it returns. It comes back. I don't force it and when I run out of steam...meh. There are other things I can do.
Summer is a great time to be outside anyway, working in the yard, doing constructive things, working on my health.
I wish you the best of luck in overcoming your writer's block. But if I were you, I wouldn't fight it.
Hi, Richard, I get "stuck" now and then. I think it happens to us all. But you are doing something very productive in the writing area by working on a website. It's related, and once you are back in the writing mode, you won't have time to work on a website. You're using this time in a good way.
Until very recently, I subscribed to the notion that "just writing" was the best way to circumvent or beat writer's block. Now, I've started to think the best way is to read. It seems to "fill up the tank" when the tank is empty--for me, anyway.
Look forward to seeing your website when it's finished!!
Writer's block sometimes is not really writer's block. It is the time your mind takes to give birth to new ideas. The creative process is mysterious. I don't fully comprehend how it unravels... but be gentle to yourself. Read, visit places that inspire you, enjoy the change of season. You may be off to something important.
Sometimes you just need a break - to recharge and regroup. I did, for a few months, and now I am back to writing. You will be too.
I've never believed in writer's block. There are times, however, when writers are simply overwhelmed with other things and their creativity is merely on haitus.
I have no doubt that you'll be writing again in no time.
I get the ole writer's block thing often. I used to try and force it, but now, I think it's my body telling me I've run it into the ground and I need to recharge. Going out and doing other things will help spark new ideas and give you the inspiration you need to start writing again.
Thank you, everyone, for your comments. It reassures me that not all is lost.
Richard, whenever I have suffered from writer's block, I catch up with my reading. Another thing you can do is to read whatever you have written earlier (before the block happened), it sets the creative juices flowing.
Don't worry about the writing, it will come back. I think writers block is just lack of excitement about something we have to write. Once you get that excitement back, the words will come again, just like talking about an exciting event in our life, we want to tell the story over and over. Perhaps an idea is to just go over the story in your mind and add a twist to it.
It's been awhile since I had writer's block since I've been editing... still, I went to my trusted notebook to see what it said. Sure enough there was a page labelled; to fight writer's block.
I'll share my list with you:
blow something up
lol. Yup, all it says. I assume I meant in my story? hahahahaha. Not sure. I wrote that ten years ago but I like it because blowing things up on a page is hard.
It's normal to run into a snag now and then, which is why I take the last week of the month off now, but you'll find your steam in no time. :)
Rachna, Clarissa, Tanya, and David, all good advice. I'm trying to relax about it.
Great post! I get stuck and often, a break does the trick. Reading things out of my comfort zone also helps. Hope that you are relaxing and doing well!
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