For the past six months I have been suffering from the most intense writers block I've ever experienced. I've never finished a novel, or written piles of short stories, but I've also never had a problem picking up a pen and putting something out there. My purse, person, and home have always been littered with scraps of paper covered with ideas, half-finished stories, or blips. Now, nothing. It's like I've forgotten to do it, or broken a habit.
My sister had a teacher who said "When you can't think of anything to write, just write "blah blah blah blah" over and over. For the past six months, when I even think about writing, "blah blah blah blah" overpowers any thoughts, ideas, and desire.
Someone I know has studied a bit of palm reading for fun, and apparently my palm would have you believe that I'm talented but not creative. If I put stock in palm reading, this would be an earth shattering tragedy. It did make me pause and consider. I've played the piano all my life, but I've never written any music. I've danced for forever, but have spent very little time choreographing. I love books, but I've always had a hard time committing to writing. Granted, these may just be areas I haven't spent time developing, but it's an interesting trend. Well, palm, I defy you! I will write! I will spend as long as I need developing ways to fight writers block. It will happen, and then I will eat ice cream.
That particular teacher was not tremendously skilled. Her idea of a writing prompt was to hand us paper and pencils. Then, she'd sit in the corner reading for half an hour while we wrote. She made up the blah blah blah thing so kids would stop bothering her when they didn't know what to write about.
ReplyDeleteI find the best way to get myself writing is to read books about writing. I get millions of ideas and it makes me itchy to start.
I suffer from writer's block all the time. Actually, I suffer from it so much I could write a book about it!!
ReplyDeleteThat is, if I could actually sit down and finish it. Here I am with half-finished books. Oh good luck to us. Try to lay off the writing for a week or two - sometimes a little break is all you need. When you come back, you're all excited again! Hopefully :)
You are not alone! I struggle with this, and my biggest problem?? Just getting my fingers to click open Word...instead of Face-book, or photo-shop...or AMAZON! My husband swears that if I devoted the time I do reading, to writing I'd have written hundreds of novels! ha ha! don't be discouraged.
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