I know this is probably normal and will eventually pass, it's just that the last time I hit spell like this it lasted for nearly ten years. Even the Flash challenges are sparking anything for me. At least twice in the last two months I've sent for the trigger only to cop-out and not write anything. The last couple of times I've actually written something, it felt like I was dredging words up from the deepest, darkest places inside and they just didn't feel right sitting on the page.

This year I would really like to try NaNoWriMo, but the only sorry little plots I can come up with will barely fill three pages let alone 200+.

Does venting help? Maybe...

Anyone else out there feel like they can't string two sentences together to save their life?

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Anyone else out there feel like they can't string two sentences together to save their life?

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Unfortunately, yes. Were it not for the challenges (Liberty Hall, Notebored), I wouldn't be getting anything done at all. I've been trying to convince myself that it will pass, that I'll get an idea that just screams to be put down on paper, but it doesn't seem to be coming. I've suffered through a couple episodes of writers block, but this is entirely new to me. It's not that I can't write, I just can't write anything I feel confident about.

Edited to say: See, I can't even put together a coherent post without editing three times. Uhg...

[This message has been edited by Isaiah13 (edited August 06, 2005).]

[This message has been edited by Isaiah13 (edited August 06, 2005).]

Some back up ideas I have include trying to write a favorite song into a story, but to make sure not to directly quote the song. I haven't done this yet, but if I run dry again (or maybe for the next NaNoWriMo), I will.

ADDED: Also I get inspired, and I know this is strange, by reading through How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy and The Writer's Guide to Fantasy Literature: From Dragons Lair to Hero Quest.

Just this year I broke a long spell by writing a page a day until I was done. I've worked through two complete stories and parts of others on that basis. I even liked one of them enough to send out to market.

For the last four or five weeks, I haven't done any flash challenges, and I've only written one story (in five days of at least 1000 words per day) and that was because I had to have something done for my critique group to look at.

Why do you think you are in a dry spell? What is pulling on your attention? Why are you fidgety with sitting down and concentrating on your writing? Specifically, do you sense any fear? Most writer's block is a result of fear of some sort.

I need to pat myself on the back more, I guess. Give myself chocolate or something for each page I write...no I'd be a house...each finished work, that will do it.

I get boosts from my critiques--even the negative ones. It makes me feel like I'm improving. I see that I've come a long way. It's just daunting to see how far I still have to go.

But I like writing so I try to get back into it. Some things to try:

1. Do something else that's creative. For me, writing has a large tactile element, so creative things that use touch or movement work the best. If you're more visual you might go look at art. If you're more aural you might go listen to music. Just do something that's not writing-related.

2. Do something writing-related but do it just for fun, with no expectation. Flashes work that way sometimes. Or another trick: find a really badly-written book in a genre you don't usually read - something that's just cringingly awful - and rewrite it so that it doesn't suck so bad. Or deliberately write something awful. The idea is just to play and not worry about getting anything done.

3. Read writing books. I'm usually reading a writing book and it helps keep me motivated, somehow.

4. Take up a challenge. There's the 100 days thing - write (at least) 100 words every day for 100 days; if you miss a day, you have to start over. Nano can work. Flash challenges. A short story challenge. Sometimes all I need is an externally-applied motivation.

But - mostly, don't worry. Trust that it'll work itself out. I took nearly a year off not so long ago and overall it was a very healthy thing.

I also like to read books about writing. I find they add a fresh perspective, and where the books overlap, I believe those nuggets are probably true.

For story ideas, you can go through OSC's 10000 ideas method (see his book Characters and Viewpoints).

Or, just go to the library with a notebook, pick up magazine after magazine and page through them. If you find a tiny spark, write it down. Keep going until you get enough and start thinking of ideas, or your pages are full, or you run out of magazines.

Oh, by the way, I'm baaaaaack! I was in lurking mode for a spell there due to other priorities.

The Writer's Mentor by Kathleen Rountree

...and an activity...

I'll go further, though. If just taking a break from writing itself doesn't help, you might want to back off further and become involved in something that leaves you no time to write at all. Volunteer, or travel, or set out to try and win a chess title. If your creative well is empty, it might be that your life feels empty. You need to put something back in before there will be anything to take out. If you can't seem to think of anything worth writing about, go out and do something worth writing about.

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One of the most useful questions I've learned to ask myself is: why?
Why do you think you are in a dry spell? What is pulling on your attention? Why are you fidgety with sitting down and concentrating on your writing? Specifically, do you sense any fear? Most writer's block is a result of fear of some sort.

The dry spell is a symptom, not a cause. Identifying the root cause of the dry spell is important because then you have something tangible to work with, and can go about dealing with the real issue.

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I wasn't looking at the dry spell as a symptom of something else, and now that you mention it, it probably is.

Fear breeds fear. I think that might be part of the problem. Fear, anxiety and feelings of inadequacy all seem to compound.

But I think I dry spell is a perfect time to assimilate past critiques and try to implement these into revisions of an older story.

To do my above-mentioned "page a day" stuff, I set up my old manual typewriter on my dining room table. (There's no room in my pigsty of an office to set up there right now.) I stroke these salt shakers and candle holders sitting on the table...I run my thumb over some stalks in a fake floral display next to it...I rub and squeeze each typewriter key.

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Fear breeds fear. I think that might be part of the problem. Fear, anxiety and feelings of inadequacy all seem to compound.

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Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be -
Brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people
won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; It's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other
people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically
liberates others.

--Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love (pg. 190-191)

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I see the fear that becomes writer's block as being the ego afraid to step into its brilliance. Sometimes we have to just pat it on the head, acknowledge that the fear exists, and then plunge on ahead any way, and do what we love to do--write. As Marianne says, it's liberating to let the fear go.

P.S.: I might add this quote is often misattributed to Nelson Mandela. I've cited the book name and page number for those interested in looking it up.

BTW ELAN: The most terrifying thing a child can learn is that THEY are in control. That's the bit I'm struggling with in my WIP, the one I haven't written for 9 weeks. Thanks for bringing up such a painful memory. While you're at it why don't you give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice on it.

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But I don't have something as important as secondaries to distract me--just an awful lot of little things (like lapdogs, yapping around my feet). <sigh!>

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I've always maintained that a person never truly knows what fear is until they become a parent. And a parent never truly comprehends terror until they are dealing with teenagers.

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And a parent never truly comprehends terror until they are dealing with teenagers.

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When I was the mother of toddlers, I bemoaned the fact that I was worried all the time that they were going to really hurt themselves. One of my parents' friends shook his head and told me, "Oh, just wait until they are teenagers. Once they are old enough to have a driver's license, there is no end to the ways they can hurt themselves, and the damage they can do is usually a lot worse than what they can ever get into as a young child."

THAT unhinged me.

And, of course, he was right. Kids can think up ways to get into trouble that never occur to you. It never OCCURRED to me to tell my son: "Don't bring home any real hand grenades. I don't want them in the house."

I didn't get past the suicide issues until I came face to face with actual death. That cured me. Suicide was such a "romantic" notion, that it seemed like the perfect answer -- Boy, they'd miss me if I wasn't around...

Robyn Hood, I just started reading "Zen in the Art of Writing" by Ray Bradbury. In one essay he outlines a technique he used frequently to get his creative juices flowing.

He'd free associate titles. No story ideas behind them, just a list of nouns with 'the' in front of them. He'd go through that list and pick out something that sparked an idea, then a story would be born, often in just an hour or two. Some examples:

The Lake, The Night, the Crickets, The Ravine, The Attic, The Basement, The Trapdoor, The Baby, The Crowd, The Night Train, The Fog Horn, The Scythe, The Carnival, The Carousel, The Dwarf, The Mirror Maze.

If you're a Bradbury fan, you probably recognize most of those as short stories, or as the bases of longer works/collections.