I hear people tell you that if you want a job writing, to treat it like one now. Up until yesterday I'd spent full days writing (when I was creative enough to)...and now, I've picked up another job that will hinder my writing process. I stared at my computer last night for a solid half hour before anything came. It scares me...I'm just under 50,000 words....and there's a lot of ground to cover...
Outside of that, I'm also stressed about real life and having one of those "Is this really practical, will this actually happen?" moments or phases. I'm trying to keep my head up, and thankfully people who read my work push me to keep going...but there are times when all the rejections take their toll....I know, I know, rejection happens to everyone, it's part of the writing life...but I don't know, I'm feeling like I need some validation right now. That could just be because I'm tired.
What do you guys do to fight the writer's block?
Ever just feel like quitting? What keeps you going?
Write something different. At some point in my schooling, we were instructed to pick an object at random from our surroundings and write a story about it. That trick has often served to get me going, and I don't actually have to write anything down. Just make it up in your hard as something to spark you.
ReplyDeleteThat is a really cool trick, I'll have to try that sometime.
ReplyDeleteWith my story I usually just read the last two-three pages and figure out where I was/where I wanted to go and that helps....sometimes..
This happens to me all all all the time, and it definitely gets worse the more stress I have in the rest of my life.
ReplyDeleteHere's my trick: Spend your blocked time planning instead of beating your head against a wall. Make an excel spreadsheet of upcoming scenes, or take a walk and free associate the next 20,000 words worth of scenes. When you know roughly where you're going, laying down the road of sentences to get there is so much easier.
@Julia--that actually sounds like awesome advice. I do try to so something similar usually saying x---> x ----> and so forth. I like arrows. From there I kind of fill in the gaps and make it polished and pretty.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, stress seems to be a very large factor.