writer's block, verse 2,395

[truepenny]

This time, it's the variety where I've got ideas, but no words. I look at the story sitting in my head, and the story looks goggle-eyed back at me, and nothing even remotely like a sentence emerges.

It's like an itch you can't scratch, only in your brain.

Comments

[papersky.livejournal.com]

The thing that gets me out of that one is writing poetry, deliberately sitting down to write poetry on purpose. I start being able to find writing words again after a relatively short time. I was once like that for a month before I figured that out, November 1996. Even writing usenet posts was almost too much.

It doesn't matter how bad the poetry is or how excruciating the writing it is, it's the putting the words out in that way.

(I actually sold one of the crap exercise poems I wrote to get me out of that once. I couldn't believe they bought it.)

This is what works for me for that particular thing, not intended as a universal truth or anything.

I'm differently stuck, I look at it for a while, write a couple of sentences and become unbearably restless.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

I'm differently stuck, I look at it for a while, write a couple of sentences and become unbearably restless.

Ooh, I hate that kind, too. Not that there's a good way to be stuck, or if there is, I haven't found it yet.

If this goes on much longer, I may try the poetry idea.