It's Called Writer's Block

Write RCS: We get stuck. I get stuck. Writers get stuck. Writers get unstuck.

            Writers get unstuck!  We can get unstuck with better feedback. An excellent source of good feedback is a writing group. Your own writing group like the ones I've written of in other posts, is more helpful than most casual conversations and usually less threatening. A search for "writing" and "groups" and "writing groups" may come up with something interesting.

If you have writers block right now, try :

• thinking about the meaning, not the words, of what you are about to write helps. Think about your meaning, then find the best words.
• taking some time to consider what is going on with you
• just resting a bit.
• completing some business.
  

Doing the following has gotten writers unstuck:

~ Look for contrasting or conflicting elements in what you have written or about to write. 

You can interact with those elements when you find them. Just finding an example of one such element and naming it can help.

~ Try just babbling on in you writing. You may find yourself being not so nice or less agreeable than usual. You might even begin talking back to yourself. Try not to shut yourself down too fast. Let each voice say what it has to say in your writing. Let each argument build a bit. Don't stop yet. Let each voice make it's point.

~ I get  frustrated and imagine that you do too. Let their movement, some movement. Again let let each and every voice have it's say before you shut it down. No one is looking. Some writing may occur.

~ Try more meaning before words. Develop the meaning of the words you are using. Clarify those meanings. Fit word to meaning.

~ Keep writing even if you only write why your writing doesn't make sense. Keep writing for 10 or 20 minutes. Then try to get yourself to step back and look at what you have written with some perspective. You may discover that you have written verbless phrases or that nothing you asserts anything. A few verbs and a couple of assertions may improve your writing. 

~ Sit back. Look at your writing and try to see what it adds up to. Going back and forth between immersing yourself in your writing and then sitting back to gain perspective is writing. As Mr. Elbow says, "You are cooking."

~ At times it is good to let yourself get a bit extreme, to be emotional. Let each impulse have its day. Sometimes it seems that one has a cycle to go through before you get down to better writing. Such a time may well be the time to take to extremes for a while. Take it to the limit one more time. Later you can be the ruthless editor with a sharp knife.  

 

            I get stuck less these days. When I do get stuck, I know what I can do to get unstuck pronto.

            Write us a comment below. Bye for now.

                                                                   by R. Carroll Sheehan

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