Prepare yourself dear reader, for a bit of a writer’s rant. No, this rant won’t be about anyone else… this rant is about my
COMPLETE AND UTTER LACK OF ABILITY TO WRITE.
I want to write, I even have a story idea that I like. So what’s the problem? It won’t work!! Every time I find some time where nothing else requires my attention, I can come up with a To Do list a mile long… topping the list are things like:
- Fold and put away laundry (something I hate doing!)
- Organizing my desk (a losing battle)
- Stare at the ceiling
Get the picture?
So if I’m not being totally distracted by other things… I’m being distracted by myself. When I try and force myself to write it all just comes out awkward and weird. I asked a friend (hmm, I think I can call her a friend, we’re Twitter friends at least… either way, she’s cool), @S_NelsonBuckley, whose one of the editors (and authors!) over at PaperBox Books and also has a blog, what she does when she just can’t write. Her answer? She writes anyways lol. It’s old wisdom, write now, edit later. Shoot, it’s even the whole concept behind NaNoWriMo! But it’s hard to do that when even the actual story is floundering around on the page.
The worse part is, I do truly like this story. There’s a few interesting bits in it, with a heavy dose of weird and a splash of real-but-no-one-will-believe-it… so why won’t it write? Maybe it’s not ready yet. I have a theory that stories will float around in my brain until they decide to be written. I, the author, have no function other than to provide the fingers to make the story a reality.
This bout of fighting with Writer’s Block usually comes about right before a story choses to appear in a tangible way so there’s not really much to do other than wait.
So what, you might be wondering, is the point of this blog post?
Here’s the kicker…
There isn’t one. Not really.
The best part is? That’s the whole point anyways.
This blog is aptly titled “Musings of a Scattered Mind” because that is exactly what you can expect to find here. Some days it’s more coherent than others… today seems less so.
Hmm, might be time to get some writing done…
I think I’ll go do laundry.
You iterated my “advice” already: Wait it out. It’s like with writing and with piano, if it’s not ready it’s not ready. It’s good to mull it over, to let it sit, and when it’s ready to be written it’ll come. Block happens, to the best of writers and to the most excellent of story ideas. I currently have something going that’s the narrative version of a radio play, using the ol’ private eye angle, but I cannot, for the life of me, think of a case. I know I’m trying to stew up something in the back of my head, but I’m otherwise occupied, unfortunately.
But, at least it might be comforting that the brain keeps working away at something even while you’re otherwise occupied.
I am friend *huggles*
That sounds like good advice to me; write now edit later. But if you tried that and it doesn’t work out, what can you do? You seem to already have a system that works for you so I’d stick with it
I’d only suggest, if you really feel like you want to put something on paper, write down the whatever little ideas or sentences that come to you and use them later
I keep a little book of random bits of conversations, descriptions, etc. that don’t fit in anywhere at the moment but could later or in a different story.
Either way I like the story, I’d be interested in seeing more
One really excellent piece of advice I once got for dealing with not writing is sitting down and writing or typing the following:
What I really want to write right now is…
Then let your brain fiddle with it.
And if you don’t already have the Julia Cameron Book “The Right to Write” get it and start laying tracks.