"I write when I'm inspired, and I see to it that I'm inspired at nine o'clock every morning." -Peter de Vries, quoted in The Writer, June 1994
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I read a good book yesterday--The Looking Glass Wars. It is the true story of Alyss in Wonderland, and it celebrates the power of imagination--both for good and for bad. Besides being an entertaining book, it made me excited to get working on my own story. I've had a hard time maintaining a scheduled writing time this summer, and too many days off makes it hard for me to get into the story when I do finally sit down to write. Of course, all that will change in a few weeks when school starts again--and with it a scheduled writing time. But for those of you facing the same difficulty, I read a great blog post on how to overcome writer's block on Diana Peterfund's blog. Check it out here, and if you have tried any of these or other methods and found them useful, let us know.
Hope you have all been writing.
3 comments:
That was an interesting blog. Since I write about outdoor stuff, I take a walk. There are literally thousands of ideas out there. Finding a market may be difficult, but they do produce writing.
When I came home from the Amish auction--an auction at an Amish farm where the owners were moving--I wrote a piece all but the ending. I didn't have a pad with me, and little memories, like the asparagus patch, keep popping into my head. Amazing what you see that you remember. I'm also almost done with my treaty piece, so maybe my "writers block" is finally going away.
That was a cool blog. I liked what she said about a writing block being indicitive of a problem with the story. That's been my experience with my new novel - I've been holding off, after being on a tear at Glenn Lake, because I'm trying to get a great opener. Chris Henning encouraged me to start writing anyway, and maybe do the opening later as it comes to me. Good advice!
Mike
now listening: Clifford Brown; be-bop from the early 50s
Larry-
2 writing pieces- yeah, I'd say your "writer's block" is pretty much gone. Both pieces sound interesting--hope I get a chance to read them-- and how much cooler would that be if they were published pieces!?
I've always been big on the shower thing. I swear it works for me, washes away the dirt in my head or something. (maybe the dirt is that internal editor of mine!)
And Mike, I also liked the idea that being blocked might indicate a problem. Sometimes for me it means I really haven't taken the time to think out how things are going to work. Means I need to spend more time planning--but often that is done by simply writing and not worrying if it is "correct".
So....maybe I'm just back to the "just write" advice. I'm trying the contingency management part where I can't read Eclipse until I write at least 3 pages. That's good motivation. Besides, I could learn a lot on how to create sexual tension in a YA book if this 3rd book is anything like S. Meyer's first two!
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