OK, so now I can officially say I've had it, the dreaded writer's block. Days on end came and went and everything I wrote struck me as sheer garbage. What did I do when it happened (other than shriek and sob and jump up and down and stomp my feet)? And how did I escape (without the use of any illegal substances)? And do I believe there is any way I can keep from going back there again?Here's a few thoughts.
When I started to panic and get upset, it only got worse. Once I realized in my unemotional, uncreative state, I was in a great frame-of-mind to do work very methodically, I shrugged my shoulders, started reworking some sections of my memoir, wrote some fitness articles that required extensive research, started a blog, and constructed a plot outline for my new novel. I used this non-creative time productively (almost - actually, I started the blog to postpone doing actual work).
When thoughts and ideas started to resume, I veered off the road, hung up the phone or got out of bed no matter what time of night and started writing.
Nearly daily, I forced myself to write for 30 minutes and found that toward the end of this time, my writing became almost passable. This made me want to continue. When I stuck with it for more than one hour, I produced high quality work.
I read more books, listened to more books on CD, wrote up a list of cool words I wanted to work into my new novel. And this stimulated more desire to write. And if you listen to funny YA novels (such as the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants series), they are bound to lift your spirits and lead you to imagine that you are really not getting old at all.
I'm off and running with my new novel now. And I want to keep it that way. So how can I keep from returning to the land of the non-writing again? And what is my advice to others? Being the highly definitive person I am, I feel I must leave you with this answer - I'm not sure. I say find something or someone that inspires you and make the most of it while it lasts. Because wildly creative moments are amazing. They don't last forever but even when they end, another awaits... if you hang in there long enough. So good luck to you and now I'm back to Belizean dive boat accidents and deadly meteorite falls and a sizzling hot romance that lasts forever (if the protagonist prevails).
Monday, February 25, 2008
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Prague is My Favorite City Too
I briefly mentioned Prague in an earlier post and was thrilled to see another visitor mentioned that Prague was his/her favorite city! That inspired me to share my views on the city for those of you who have visited (Gribnerites, etc) and those of you still brave enough to go (with the exhange rate as lousy as it is right now).
In a nutshell, what I loved most about Prague was the architecture. Buildings hundreds of years old, Prague Castle with its turrets and walls and hundreds of windows, churches like St. Vitius with stained glass windows and stone pillars and Petrin Hill where you can see the Vltava River and the bridges that arch over it and the pale green minarets and red tile roof tops of every building in the city. Beyond that, I loved all the parks with the green trees (what they call trees in Tucson in my opinion are not really trees) and the way that in that city where every building is a true work of art, creating art, in whatever form, felt like a wonderful pursuit.
In a nutshell, what I loved most about Prague was the architecture. Buildings hundreds of years old, Prague Castle with its turrets and walls and hundreds of windows, churches like St. Vitius with stained glass windows and stone pillars and Petrin Hill where you can see the Vltava River and the bridges that arch over it and the pale green minarets and red tile roof tops of every building in the city. Beyond that, I loved all the parks with the green trees (what they call trees in Tucson in my opinion are not really trees) and the way that in that city where every building is a true work of art, creating art, in whatever form, felt like a wonderful pursuit.
Exercise and Writing Ideas
Is there a paragraph in your book driving you absolutely crazy? Is there something about your plot that just insn't quite working?
This stuff used to drive me crazy and I would fidget in my seat, get up and pace around, sit down again and moan and stomp my feet but still I would be stuck. The paragraph would still suck and the plot would still be completely lame. So what was I to do?
Eventually, I learned the easy way out. Exercise. Walking, running or swimming outside works every time for me. When I'm more relaxed, the ideas just flow which is so much easier than trying to force them out. Just today, my whole plot for my new novel came together while I was riding my bike. Often, I come up with article ideas or decide who to interview for an article in the middle of a workout. Another thing that works well is if I head out to exercise with one problem zone in mind - it might be a paragraph, a plot problem, a section of dialogue. And I try to see if I can solve it during my workout. 99 percent of the time, this works well. But I will confess to a few times when through my endorphin high, I thought what I was writing was a masterpiece, kind of the same way I occasionally do after when I jot something down after a glass or two of wine, only to later read it and think EEEWW. But hey nothing's perfect. But for me, the ideas come when I'm moving and elated and then later I do my fine tuning when my feet (and mind) are back on the ground.
This stuff used to drive me crazy and I would fidget in my seat, get up and pace around, sit down again and moan and stomp my feet but still I would be stuck. The paragraph would still suck and the plot would still be completely lame. So what was I to do?
Eventually, I learned the easy way out. Exercise. Walking, running or swimming outside works every time for me. When I'm more relaxed, the ideas just flow which is so much easier than trying to force them out. Just today, my whole plot for my new novel came together while I was riding my bike. Often, I come up with article ideas or decide who to interview for an article in the middle of a workout. Another thing that works well is if I head out to exercise with one problem zone in mind - it might be a paragraph, a plot problem, a section of dialogue. And I try to see if I can solve it during my workout. 99 percent of the time, this works well. But I will confess to a few times when through my endorphin high, I thought what I was writing was a masterpiece, kind of the same way I occasionally do after when I jot something down after a glass or two of wine, only to later read it and think EEEWW. But hey nothing's perfect. But for me, the ideas come when I'm moving and elated and then later I do my fine tuning when my feet (and mind) are back on the ground.
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