Writer's Block

Writer's block is really when you have a story line going and you cannot move forward on that story line. What is it when you just have nothing interesting to say? I hit this point in nearly every blog entry. That is just how it goes. It is a rare occasion when I have to go back and shorten anything because I think it is too wordy. Far more often, I must read and add a line or a paragraph to clarify something. Sometimes I think I put some details in and realize only after a reread I completely missed some important point.

You would think anyone could just sit down at a keyboard and keep pounding the keys until the perfect novel or story or at least blog entry were on the screen blinking back at you. This is not how it is done. There must be writers out there who do this. There are just too many books on the shelves of Half Price Books for this not to have occurred. Most of the interviews I've heard have writers telling the tail of woe about having to have people how love them lock them in an empty windowless room with a laptop and a toilet and feed them through a notch in the door.

This is the sort of motivation that I would need to do any kind of serious writing. Just having time after work to knock something out is not good enough. I would have to be trapped and under the gun to really make magnificence from the dribble that pours from me on a daily basis.

There are reasons for writer's block. Stress, outside influences, distractions, poor diet come to mind. Well, these are excuses anyway. There is no generic root cause in my opinion. The fact is the words and thoughts are not coming. The important thing is to get the words down. Get the words down. Get the words down. Put them on the page. Make sense of things later. Edit, edit, edit, then edit some more. Get the words down. If I had a memory maillot, I would hit every one reading this paragraph with it to help those words sink in.

How important is it to you to have written? Writing is not the goal. Having written is the object. The strategy is to get the words down. The tactics, well, the tactics start with hitting the keys or putting a bit of weight on the pencil while scratching it around the page.

the self same rule goes for making videos or audio. Do it. Then worry about it sucking. Fix it and then worry about others liking it. Trash it later after starting it again. Edit, edit, have a shot of your favorite whiskey and edit some more. When it is still crap, blame everything and every one. Curse the heavens. Then, get started on the third rewrite.