Writing Tip #2: Writer's Block

Kind of a misnomer these days. Think I'll call it "creativity block." My brother, who's a webpage desinger and graphic artist tells me there are days he can't think of a damned thing. Artists deal with it as well. We all get stuck at times. This is the first step, jult like a twelve step program. Admitt you're going to go through it at least once in your creative career.

Okay, now that you've admitted that you will deal with creativity block, how do you get through it? I have a friend in my old writing group, that was constantly getting creativity blocked. If she got a page written in a month, she was doing well. She'd get hung up over the smallest details: the time of day, the color of the sky, the season, the color of the guy's shirt, the kind of car. Good god, it wore me out. She had too much to think about, and it got in the way of the story.

Well, let's proceed as if you were well and truely blocked. Your brain hurts, and you can't think of one more word to put down on paper (or screen, for most of us). First of all, get up and walk away. First, save what you have, but walk away. Trey Barker will sit down with his drum kit or guitar and do a little jamming. I'll go walk the dog or work in the garden. Sometimes I'll just ignore the problem and focus on other things for a day or so. The solution generally will come to me when I'm at my folks house working horses, fishing with my kids, sitting in a deer stand, what have you. Have a pen and paper with you (you know, the old kind or word processor that doesn't crash) to write down the idea.

The intent is to get your mind away from pounding the problem into the ground. It frees you up and releases you. Gets your mind off the problem.

Another thing I'll do is work on something else. Writing time in my house precious. I've usually got more than one project going at a given time. Sometimes a piece of non-fiction that actually has a deadline, or the manuscript for a short story needs attention. EDITING COUNTS AS WRITING. Some people blow this off as busy work, but it is vital to your writing or creating. My brother goes through old computer files and cleans up ones that he can use for another project, or delets those that are no longer relevant. Spend time on another project, and go back to your main work with a fresh outlook. Usually you'll be able to jump back in and get the creative flow going again.

The piece of advice I gave to my friend mentioned at the beginning of this tip, don't sweat every single detail. Just use what you need to advance the story, throw the rest away. People don't need to know that the heroine bought the shirt on sale at a closeout, and was never happy with it but it was cheap.

Hope this helps.