Ever had one of those days when you just can’t seem to get it together? You sit down to write and …. NOTHING, absolutely nothing comes! You’ve planned into your day to do some writing and well … quite frankly you can’t think of what to write, how to write, where to start. It’s so frustrating because you’re wanting so hard to write something worthwhile, of interest, something maybe even a little motivational. But there’s nothing. A big fat zero! The focus is gone; you’ve had several cups of coffee and nothing is stimulating the ‘writing part’ of the brain. You look at the blank sheet for ages, doodle a little in the open space, try a mind map to see where that goes but no, nothing is flowing today. I wonder if this is what writers refer to as ‘writers block’. I’m pleased that my whole livelihood is not dependent on my writings; otherwise we wouldn’t eat, perhaps not even manage beans on toast! Actually ‘beans on toast’ is not one of my favourite snacks, so I could live without it anyway.
And you know, there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to be beaten, that doesn’t want to be slain by the writers block dragon so I’m going to scribble down all the letters of the alphabet and see what comes up. You may get a little of that in future blogs … we’ll see.
Perhaps you would be willing to share one two of your best tips to unblock the block and encourage the free flow of writing? All donations gratefully accepted.
Hi Mary - my tip for writer's block is to write regularly, every day if possible. That way you store pieces up "in the bank" to use during dry spells. I certainly have patches that are more creative than others.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have to say, you've done pretty well writing about not being able to write!
Hi Caroline - thanks for stopping by. I like your idea of a daily write and 'banking it'. I'm trying hard to make this a habit of mine. A friend I know writes a lot. She recommends using a 'hatching box'. She scribbles notes, comments, quotes and puts them in the box ... then opens the box some time later to see what has developed or 'hatched'!
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