When Life Gives You Lemons, Or Some Such Thing

Before the kids got out of school in June I had started to feel as though I was hitting my head against a brick wall when trying to write. So I decided to take a break - to read more and to relax. To spend more time focused on the kids while they were home, and on Heli Dad, and on myself. It was a good summer and exactly what I needed.

When I started sitting back down at the computer on a regular basis in August, I still wasn't ready to wade back in to the projects I'd hit pause on in June. But I started writing.

I finished a fan fiction story I'd begun years ago - to the delight of many long time readers who'd still been waiting to find out how it would end. And when that was done, I still had more to write so I started another, one that had been sort of simmering on a back burner in my head for a couple years, just waiting.

I needed the break.

The full stop.

The mental rejuvenation.

I've needed this chunk of time where I've essentially just been writing for fun again. This grace period where I haven't had to worry about all the gritty details. I don't have to build the world, or create the characters... I can just let the words flow while I tell a story.

The crazy thing is that before the break, I was struggling to write 500 words a week.

In the last month I've written roughly 45,000.

And there are more. I don't sit down at the computer and wonder what to write. I know what I want to say and how I want to say it. I know where the story goes, how it ends, and how to get there.

As the words simply spill out of me for this fan fiction story, I find my mind is also working on the ideas and plot points, and all the little details that I'd been struggling with so much in the Spring. I jot down these random bits and pieces every day. I'm connecting dots that I hadn't even realized I needed to connect. In my mind, I'm finally getting all the various puzzle pieces of the story (my original works story) sorted out. I'm figuring out where and how all the disparate details fit together to create the big picture.

Somehow I simply know that when I switch back the words I need will be there. While it may not be as free flowing as this fan fiction writing has been, I won't be beating my head against that brick wall anymore either.

Writers -- have you come up against this before?

To clarify, I'm not talking about writers block. Not really. I could still write. The thing was, I was forcing it, hard, and you could tell.

So what did you do? What do yo do?

Did you keep attack the brick wall, pumping out words that sort of, but not really fit with what you wanted to say? Do you redirect? Take a break?

What do you do when your story is dammed up inside your head and you just can't find the right key to open the floodgates?

Writing Problems

Writing problems. We all have them – blocks, ideas that just aren’t working, words that won’t come or don’t sound right, lack of time, energy, etc… This gig, by which I mean writing, it isn’t for the faint of heart, or the half-hearted. It’s funny, but more and more lately I’ve wondered that writing is a lot like life. It’s a balancing act of finding time vs. making time. A battle between having the right words and forcing any words out. It’s a struggle between knowing the right thing (or way or road or whatever) and having to guess.

And it is a constant series of wondering if what you’ve done is good enough, if it was done fast enough, long enough, enough, enough, enough…

Having 4 kids, one only 4 months old, means it takes either a lot of scheduling to get time where I can simply sit at my computer and write, or it takes sacrificing of sleep. Some times it takes the scheduling of sacrificed sleep to get myself in front of this computer. And alright, full truth, sometimes it’s just a matter of luck too. (Right now, for instance, I’m able to sit at my computer writing this because the baby fell back to sleep after it’s morning feed, the girls are at my parents, and the boy had a couple friends sleep over and they tried to stay up all night and are still in exhausted slumber. See – luck!)

When I do get to the computer I’ve got about a dozen projects on the go between work, my sister’s wedding, and other personal ideas that I’ve been working on. Writing, some times is simply not at the top of the list. And other times I’m just burnt out enough from everything else going on in life, that when writing is at the top I just can’t, or don’t feel like I can.

It’s been that way for me for a while now. That feeling of can’t.

I hate it.

Yet, at the same time, I know that I’m simply not the type of writer that can sit down and force a story. I mean, I could, but I’ve done it before and, well, it was horrible. The writing was horrible. The story that came from it was horrible. I’m talking: even my 13-year old daughter thought it was bad, horrible. Everything was stilted, one-dimensional, tired sounding, and honestly just plain painful to read. So yeah, forcing out a story – not really my thing.

Great writing doesn't always come in a day, sometimes it comes in weeks and months. Honing writing skills. #amwriting pic.twitter.com/rtgyIa4olU

— Writing & Editing (@WrtrStat) September 28, 2017

Lately though I’ve been feeling the need to write again. The whispers in the back of my mind while I go about my day. The familiar tones and voices of my characters as they’ve once again began asking me to tell their stories. The sensations are wonderful, my dreams are again colourful and coming to life, and I’m looking forward to some quality time with my keyboard. Or pen and paper. Or my phone’s voice memo app. (Like I said time is a crunch with 4 kids.)

So writing problems… What have yours been lately?   

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Working Through the Tough Spots

You’ve been working on a story for weeks, months, or even years.  It’s going great and though you began with a pretty clear-cut plan, you’ve been relatively happy to allow your characters and their story a bit of leeway to make some interesting plot turns.  Now you’ve hit that point in the story where you, as the writer, stumble.

Even though you know where you’re headed and the general path you intend to take, the words just aren’t coming.  You write, and write, and write, but when you review you’re nearly disgusted with what you read.  We’ve all been there.  We’ll all be there again sometime – maybe soon.

So how do you get through it?

I wish I could say that there was some simple method, an easy way to get over the hump.  The honest truth is that you just have to find something that will work for you and use it.  And you need to understand that what works one time, or for one person, may not work for another.

Generally that means that you just keep writing.  Good or bad, you need to get the words on the page; you can and will go back and edit, delete, revise, and even rewrite later.  The important thing here is just getting the words out.

Sometimes, and for some people, forcing the words out just doesn’t work.  In this case you may benefit most as a writer by going back to the beginning and (re)reading and editing the work you’ve already done.  As I said, you know exactly where you’re headed, taking the time to review where you’ve been won’t hurt.  And may in fact get those creative juices pumping again.

It could be that reviewing your own work may only make you feel more frustrated.  Then you’ve got a few other choices.  If you write a blog, work on a new post.  Tired of trying to write?  Try reading.  Whether it’s doing a critique read for a friend, picking up a new release at the bookstore or the library, or reacquainting yourself with an old favorite; reading someone else’s stories might just be that metaphorical nudge that helps to clear your mind and allows the words to start flowing anew.

The truth of the matter is that everybody is different, which is a pretty basic fact of life, so it makes sense that no two writers use exactly the same process when writing, none of us use the same methods when working through the tough spots.  So as I said at the start: find a method that works for you.  You’ll need to adjust and adapt as necessary, and always remember that just as your stories evolve from the initial idea that got the ball rolling, to the finished product you share with the world, your writing process is an ever-evolving thing as well.  You merely need to accept that things will never remain precisely the same each time through.

Sounds a lot like life, doesn’t it?

Writing, Writing, Writing... Right?

Image by thorinside via Flickr

I think it's inevitable that it happens to everyone, that all writers experience that one thing that can knock even the best of us off our game... That's right, I'm talking about the infamous Writer's Block.  I don't know why but it seems like once or twice every year I get hit with a spectacularly horrible shot of not being able to write anything at all.  And it always seems to hit about the same time as a serious case of pessimism, which this year I allowed to get the better of me... Hence not having written any blogs in the last several months.  And yes, I know, several months is far too long to go with out saying anything.  But there it is. 

I actually pulled myself out of the pit (aka Writer's Block Hell) just over a month ago and have been fiendishly working on my novel. (Not the new one that I wrote about last.) And a couple of short stories.  And doing some editing/beta-ing for a friend and colleague.   And you know I'm actually feeling pretty good about the work now, and now, I can't figure what was wrong that I couldn't find anything to write about a few months ago.  Ah, depressions... Don't they just suck?

So what do you do when you're suffering from Writer's Block?  How do you work through it?