A writer who can't write is like a sword fighter who is afraid to pick up a sword: not a lot of good when someone comes at him with a broadsword.
I have written articles and short stories in the past. My last article was published last December in Cornwall Today magazine but I haven't written anything since. I can't...I won't. I even have an interview to write about but it has been sat recorded on my phone for months (fyi My Samsung galaxy S2 has a better voice recorder than my dedicated dictaphone!). I also need to write letters for my boss to send out to people but it can take me so long (too long) to write one. It is frustrating, but it is also something I want to work on next.
I have always suffered from writer's block. Sometimes I find myself free from it, sometimes it is so crippling that I can stare at a blank page in horror,my guts an agony of twisted knots. It is a confidence thing, I am sure.
Being able to write the occasional blog post is helping but I think I need to do more. If I had remembered nanowrimo (novel writing month which is November) I would have prepared characters and the basic storyline for a short novel, but I found out as it was starting. I feel I need to challenge myself more.
I have been writing a bucket list and steadily working my way through it. I have milked a cow (because it was random), I have done a voiceover job, I have slept in a car (that was on S's list not mine) and I am gradually walking the cornish coast 13-15 miles at a time. A short story is on my list, my worst nightmare in terms of writing: creativity, length, completion. It feels like one of my biggest challenges yet!
When I don't want to do something, I think about the list of things that I am trying to avoid doing and usually try one of two things:
ReplyDelete- picking the thing I want to do the least and making myself do that. It does work quite well...
- thinking about the consequence of not doing it, which generally boils down to will I feel worse by doing it or by not doing it. If I can begin to grasp the relief or other such emotion I would feel having down whatever it is, that generally persuades me to do it.
I still often avoid doing lots of things though. Ho hum.
Hello RR!
ReplyDeleteAvoiding doing things is a natural consequence of being human, I think. I like your idea of picking the thing you want to do the least first...I am just not that sure I can make myself work like that ;-)
Turns out that I might have to write soon, on a professional level, that means I have to write. We will see how that progresses and I will keep you up to date.