July 10th, 2007 | by Devyn Quinn |
Blogging doesn’t come easily to me. For the most part, I have the type of life that is same old stuff, different day. Sometimes it’s even hard to tell the different days apart, such is the rote and routine of my life. So after racking my small brain for a subject, it occured to me I already had one. Something I struggle with constantly. You guessed it: writer’s block.
Yep, me and that big black void in my head are really good friends. So good that it visits me several times a year. Like an unwelcome realtive, it parks itself on the couch in my mind and refuses to budge as it gnaws away at my few good brain cells. Not just for a day or two, but weeks, sometimes months. And where, you ask, is my muse in my darkest hours of need? Well, he (yeah, he) is a stubborn cuss and lazy, lazy, lazy. Here’s a little snip of the usual convo between Devyn and her muse. For identification purposes I shall identify him as Bubba, because he’s kind of dense and absolutely useless.
Devyn (staring at empty screen): So Bubba, ready to go to work?
Bubba (yawning, still in bed): Nope.
Devyn (pissed off): But I’ve got a deadline to write a new novella and the days are ticking off. How can I do that if you refuse to get your ass in gear?
Bubba (rolling over and putting pillow over his ears): Why do you need me anyway? Don’t you already have the plot all worked out.
Devyn (scratching head): I have a synopsis, but no plot. It’s up to you to supply the meat and bones.
Bubba (showing no interest): I’m sorry. You’re just going to have to figure these things out for yourself. You’re the one who wanted to write. Not me. I’ve got better things to do–like sleep.
Devyn (whining): Work with me, please….
Bubba: zzzzzzzzzz
I’ve sat for hours day after day staring at this nice 19″ inch monitor of mine, wondering where the heck the words would come from to fill the required number of pages I needed to turn over to my editor. Dunno where they are. I can’t find them. I’ve looked high and low. I’ve read books, studied the dictionary, taken long long drives to free up my mind. The days tick off, my deadline draws ever closer–and I’ve still not written a word.
So what to do to get over it? I honestly don’t know. I usually reach the point where I just sit down and just write the darn thing. Doesn’t matter if I have a plot or not. I just start writing. I don’t worry about typos, I don’t stop and proof. I just sit and write. Most times I pick a few songs that seem to convey the mood of the story and play them. Over and over and over. Then the miracle happens. Some how, some way, it all seems to come together, and on time.
So there’s my sad tale of woe. How about you? What do you do when your lazy muse has packed up and moved without telling you goodbye?
Hi Devyn…I hear ya on this.
I wander around the house…upstairs, downstairs whining inside my head.
Then I finally just get angry! I sit, I write. Then I do it again the next day.
Griping about it doesn’t seem to help, either.
I’ve got a kid who says: Poor Mom…stuck working at the job you love. Doing what you’ve wanted to do all your life. Yeah, Mom you’ve got it rough.
That tends to put my butt in chair!
Bonnie
by Bonnie Edwards · July 11th, 2007 at 1:04 pmAll I can say is that from the quality of your great stories, your muse is there when you need him most!
by Lucinda Betts · July 11th, 2007 at 1:10 pmFeeling your pain, sweets! I am having my own Bubba moment. My next book is due October 1, which wouldn’t be so bad, but the day job has been pushing me to work full time and eating into my writing time. So if I could just get started it would be great. But I cannot seem to get the story started. I have 1,000 words and there she shits… LOL! I meant sits, but I guess my mind knew what it was really thinking.
One thing I did do is join 70 Days Of Sweat. If you havent checked it out yet, drop by Alison Kent’s blog. Great motivator with lots of awesome author company.
Best wishes. Bubba, get off your ass. It’s getting so wide it’s taking up Devyn’s couch and mine, too!
by Jodi Lynn Copeland · July 11th, 2007 at 4:39 pmDay jobs suck, Jodi. They really do drain you dry of all writing energy. Hope you get on track before deadline approaches. Bonnie, I love writing, too. Just wish I had more brains to do it, LOL. Lucinda, thank you for the lovely comments.
Apprecite them. Getting a new muse, soon, I hope!
by Devyn Quinn · July 11th, 2007 at 4:48 pmAh, yeah. Plus, too, the story’s gotta get to some kind of weird place where it just comes together.
Then, my head gets in there and the story won’t go away until I’m done.
It’s just finding that place that gets tough sometimes.
Bonnie
by Bonnie Edwards · July 11th, 2007 at 7:19 pmOoh what I really love (sarcasm here) is when I can’t freaking write a scene and then I go to bed and the whole scene plays out in my head, the people won’t shut up, but if I get up and try to put it down, they are suddenly mute. Do they not realize I have the power to kill them off?
by Jodi Lynn Copeland · July 11th, 2007 at 10:19 pmDevyn, I think you should blog more often. Love the humor here! And, unfortunately, I have my own Bubba. But, I think you’ve already stumbled upon the solution – my solution, anyway. I just have to make myself write my way through writer’s block. Let go of the stress, pressure, analysis, etc. and just write. And then, like you said, a miracle occurs and I’m really writing.
I don’t have to wish you success in getting through this because I know you will – you always do, and manage to crank out awesome work!
by Rachelle Chase · July 12th, 2007 at 10:36 am