Comments on: How to Beat Writer’s Block the Easy Way

By: Stormy

Stormy — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 01:53:27 +0000

I beat writer’s block (and constantly fighting my inner editor) by not reading what I’d written AT ALL until I’d finished. I completed my first novel at the end of NaNoWriMo this past year by doing this and now that I’m going through the second draft, I actually like a majority of what I wrote but if I’d read it that day or even the day after, I probably never would have finished. So, I highly recommend writing that way. I never thought I would beat my inner editor! She’s a maniac!

P.S. New to this blog via Top 100 Creative Writing Blogs and loving it!

By: Bill Henderson

Bill Henderson — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:07:11 +0000

Sometimes I use a term that is a little too untamed to be reliable. It attracts attention to itself like a bucking horse. People grab it and ride it wherever it leads them. The important thing to note is that I used [that term] to indicate those awful moments when I remember rereading something and feeling the bottom drop out of my life. In the movie “Adaptation,” Nicholas Cage nails it visually when he listens to some notes he recorded earlier in high excitement: as his recorded voice yammers on, high on hope, we see his face sicken with despair. Writing this, I just realized I went for the same effect, sort of, at a spot in my novel, I KILLED HEMINGWAY, where the main character finally pulls himself together and finishes the book he has been dreading to write:

So the winter passed….as [the book] struggled to be born, survived infancy, and grew into a whopping handsome stack of sizzling pages. Then one day it was done. I printed out two copies, boxed one, and set off through a snow storm to hand-deliver it to Warren & Dudge.

Then I came home, sat down with the other copy, and read it, start to finish.

It was trash.

[END OF CHAPTER]

By: Jenny Lewis

Jenny Lewis — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 02:29:06 +0000

P.S. Man, I HATE it when I misspell alliteration! But did I just misspell “misspell”? That is the question. Someone can get back to me on that… nyuk, nyuk jL

By: Jenny Lewis

Jenny Lewis — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 02:23:27 +0000

First, thanks for the earlier post on goals — I loved both the quotes at the end of that one. I just finished reading your writer’s block post. Actually, your writing itself is pretty inspiring: crisp, clean and clicking right along to clarify your points (sorry, couldn’t resist the aliteration, AND it’s all true!).
“I suck” is never helpful to me though. It is too black and white of a statement, and too harsh to be helpful. Also I don’t think I will EVER be too worried about seeing my own faults as spysribbler relates. Instead, the more I learn to see my own faults IN PERSPECTIVE the better everything gets. Reminds me of one of my favorite sayings re where I’ve come from: “Sure I know about moderation — I see it every time I swing by it going from one extreme to another!”
have a good night or morning as the case may be jL

By: Bill Henderson

Bill Henderson — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:08:16 +0000

Wow, that’s a fresh take on “I suck” if I ever heard one! You’ve taken the dead hand of self-loathing and turned it into a pom-pom of reassurance.

By: spyscribbler

spyscribbler — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:22:05 +0000

I am very comfortable with the feeling that I suck, but I often feel that if I didn’t need the money, I wouldn’t have finished a ton of my stuff.

I suck is my friend, though. It reassures me that I can still see my faults, which means I can fix them. The alternative is much worse!