By Rose Dee
The two words that will make a writer tremble! Luckily, I have
never experienced writer’s block in a work in progress. Instead I tend to
suffer from too much inspiration and no time to put any of my ideas down on
paper.
For me, the dreaded ‘block’ comes when trying to come up
with new and exciting blog posts. OK, so I’m on a blog now, and yes, I did
ponder for many hours what I could write about. Sometimes I will stress for
weeks over a blog posting, then sit in front of my computer and stare at a
blinking prompt whilst agonizing over the swarm of topics swirling around in my
head. I go through the process of systematically discarding each one as ‘lame’
until I finally narrow it down to a winning topic, or at least something I
would consider the world might be interested in reading. I find the process
exhausting, and it is one of the reasons I am an irregular poster.
My blog block confession is testimony that even the most
imaginative person can suffer from a lack of ideas. It is the flip side of creativity,
and most of us, at some stage, will suffer the tragedy of burn out, or as my
husband likes to call it ‘das is caput’ (i.e. done with, over, broken, the end
of, no more). At this stage something even more sinister than a block can creep
in – the ‘Thought Bubble’! Surely the only thing worse than writing something
boring, is writing something crazy!
With this in mind I sign off on this post. I do hope that
wherever you are in your writing process, the dreaded ‘block’ is far from you.
Happy writing.
Rose is the author of the 'Resolution' series.
Visit Rose at:
You're not the first author I've heard this comment from. Do you think it could be because a blog is non-fiction, and you're a fiction writer?
ReplyDeleteI'm not alone!! I, too, agonise over my posts Rose. And yes I believe you are right Iola, it is because this is non-fiction and we prefer the imaginary.
DeleteI think though that it may be possible to improve with time and the support such as we find here on ACW.
I would like to hear from some of our blog readers what topics they want to see discussed? Coming up with a topic is the hard part - or as you put it Rose, rifling through the myriad ideas till we find one that isn't lame!
I never thought of that, Iola, but it makes perfect sense. I'm not a great non-fiction reader either.
DeleteI love the post and it shows your fun side. I know I would struggle to come up with a blog post if I had to. The one I did last year followed from other posts but from a readers side of things.
ReplyDeleteSome ideas readers enjoy are things like how do you come up with your ideas, what's your writing day like? How do you name characters? What are the most frustrating questions you are asked when you tell people you are a writer? (does that help at all Catherine?)
That really helps me too, Jenny. Sometimes I wish I could just post from a reader's perspective.
DeleteWhy cant you Rose you read so your a reader. You are a wife, mother, daughter, friend, writer, reader I can keep going. Does it mean you have to only write as a mother when you are also a daughter? No you can choose which role you are at the time.
DeleteThats my feelings anyway.
Oh goodness, yes! Thank you Jenny, that is so helpful. I've thought of some of those before but never thought to put them together in a blog post. I will start now :)
DeleteLove your point too, on all the roles that Rose (or any of us) have. I guess we get so hot under the collar trying to be professional, interesting and fresh that we can lose sight of those things. But...we still need to be professional, interesting and fresh, while coming from the perspective of a mother etc.
Thats true Catherine, We can still be professional writing as a reader etc as you said. Its also nice for readers to know authors read as I know some do and others don't find time. Also what they read and enjoy. Do they read only in there genre or do they read a different genre. I know one author who made sure she didn't write in the historical era she loves to read most so she wouldn't destroy her love for it. These things are interesting for an reader to see. Also things that interest us are what sort of books did you grow up reading and did any of them influence your writing. I know one American author loves Gone With The Wind and after reading it at 12 she started writing her own version. Not that I can understand her love of Gone With the Wind. Did any Authors impact your life. Did you want to be the next Agatha Christie or C.S. Lewis or insert author who you admired.
DeleteScribbling this all down for later Jenny. I'm sure I will have more ideas from this - thanks again.
DeleteVery easy to understand. Especially if we come up with something boring and crazy! I guess it's not impossible. I like to jot blog ideas down in a notebook to grab one later, because I know my mind may be blank when my rostered time comes.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea, Paula. I have lots of topics I want to write about - where I find it hard is relating it back to writing.
DeleteRose, you're not alone! And you've made me (and Cat) feel better too.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea Jenny - thanks for your suggestions. I'll bear those in mind for a blog post in the future.I'm going to ask some reader friends what they'd like to know.
Perhaps we could also have some suggestions from other writers to get rid of the dreaded block! I didn't suffer from it all while writing my first novel but have this time around.
So thanks Rose! You've given us all some ideas :)
Out of the bad, comes the good. Love that. :-)
DeleteThanks Rose, I think there are many of us in a similar place with non-fiction blog posts.
ReplyDeleteI think it is certainly true that I find writing about imaginary lives a lot easier than writing about my own. Probably a lot more interesting too, Ian.
DeleteRose, thanks for your fun post :) Technical writing (blog posts etc.) is a very different beast to fiction writing. Your target audience and goals for writing the blog post need to be considered, as well as word count limitations. I think it takes time and practice to master the art of writing effective blog posts.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely, Narelle. It's an art form in itself isn't it!
DeleteI hear you, Rose. Sometimes we think our posts are lame... But I learned a real lesson about blog posting a few years ago. Someone from church found me to say she'd been blessed from my post on Ink Dots that week. I'd written something I wasn't sure would appeal that week, a personal story I thought may have been better left untold. But I saw how God used it to bless someone I didn't normally chat with. That's encourages me most times when I venture away from fiction to real life writing.
ReplyDeleteBless you xx
Now, that make it all worthwhile doesn't it! Sometimes you think nobody is reading this stuff, and then that one person will give you the encouragement to keep going. Love it when that happens. xo
DeleteI agree Rose. I don't have any trouble writing my novels, but when it comes to blogging I often agonise over what's worth putting out there for readers. Perhaps it's the love of life story which hinders some of us. A snippet or a few paragraphs hardly seens to cut it. However, I also love great quotes and inspiring thoughts when I read them. I just have trouble coming up with them.
ReplyDeleteMe too, Carol. And I always wonder who would be interested in reading about my life! I would much rather create some interesting fictional lives for people to read about.
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