posted
I've been having the strangest case of writer's block, of late.
See, I write at the family computer (an evil, possessed little thing, with its infernal glitches and perpetually persevering pop-ups (got to love that alliteration )), usually into the wee hours of the morning. Normally, the muse whispers into my ear while I work, and in the end, I'm satisfied with the product. Until recently.
I don't rely on the muse too heavily, and turn out some decent stuff even when he's not there. But now, in his absence, I can't even write crap. I have nothing. I sit in the leather swiveling chair and stare at the glaring screen until my mind melts (yes!), but nothing comes. Nothing, at all.
But that's normal writer's block. So here's the strange part.
I've taken to writing longhand in a legal pad, whenever the computer's being used. It's soothing. It's slower, yes, but that's not a problem. Longhand affords a grace--and the flexibility to trace over your words or doodle in the margins while you think of the next perfect word--that the computer will never have. I like it.
Yet my block doesn't seem to follow me into this medium. I can write for pages, for hours, even (I wrote for four and a half hours, a few Sundays ago), and it's all solid gold. The muse screams into my mind with an ebullient fervor, and he does it with a megaphone set on "high".
And yet, when I sit at the computer and transcribe ink to kilobyte, I finish what I wrote on the pad and end up finishing, period. The Block blocks again, and I'm left with a frustration that makes me want to throw things at the computer screen. Hard things. Big, hard things, with sharp edges.
I think my muse is allergic to electronics.
Weird.
Any thoughts?
CVG
[This message has been edited by cvgurau (edited June 15, 2004).]
Very odd behaviour too. Although I can appreciate the freedom you get from a pad of paper -- you can take it anywhere and there's no pressure to perform.
I got my most productive writing of the last few years when I took a laptop on holiday with me and sat next to the pool with it. Another no pressure, different environment thing, I guess.
posted
My muse is a female, a bit of a drunk also. Oh well, not extremely reliable.
I love my computers, never had a problem looking at word perfect on the screen. I run short of ideas from time to time, but the words tend to always be there...even if they aren't great.
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cvgurau, this sounds to me like a simple case of someone who writes better longhand than on the computer. Just go with it! Posts: 3567 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
CV, I find myself switching off between the laptop and pencil-paper sometimes. I think it's making a change, any sort of change, that helps me get past a block. Sometimes I take either the pad and pencil or the whole laptop to a Starbucks, pull up a comfy chair, and find I can write a hundred pages on the same day I couldn't write a word at home. Doing something different -- long-hand writing, changing locations, whatever -- seems to be the key.
Posts: 338 | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
I probably wrote half of my first book on paper with my favorite pen (a Scheaffer fountain pen) sitting in the car waiting for this or that child to get out of school with my four-year-old bouncing all over the back seat. It was sloppy, but some of my best work.
And when the muse leaves me my hubby puts his arms around me and lets my cry on his shoulder and he tells me that it'll come back. And you know what? It always does.
posted
Actually, I "borrowed" my muse from Stephen King. It's not something I did on purpose; before I read On Writing, which I enthusiastically recommend for all two of you who haven't read it, my muse was...well, nonexistant. I never thought to give him/her form. S/he was just there.
Just don't tell King, or he'll have me killed.
[This message has been edited by cvgurau (edited June 15, 2004).]
posted
I mainly write in longhand. Occassionally, if an idea strikes me at work, or I need to get something down quickly I'll use the pc but otherwise its pen and paper.
As you said, it gives time to think, muse and do the all important doodles - my husband laughs about illuminated manuscripts!
I get over the transcription problem by doing straight transcription, then printing out the whole thing and attacking it with a pen. It's vicious and nasty at times but it works for me. Recently I went on holidays with a 3 notepads (work in progress) and 2 folders of printout (work being edited/hacked to pieces ready to start again).
Even my 2 year old wants a notebook and a pen so he can "work".
As for the muse - he comes and goes. Has to be a he - can vanish for days without even a phone call to say where he is!
quote:As for the muse - he comes and goes. Has to be a he - can vanish for days without even a phone call to say where he is!
Sounds more like a cat to me. Maybe that's why so many writers have them. 'Course, a roamer would be a male cat, so RFLong may be onto something. Hmmm...maybe cat muses are like parakeets -- only the males talk, only the males are muses. Phooey. That leaves me with two useless felines. Maybe I'll teach them to use the phone, just in case.
[This message has been edited by Kolona (edited June 16, 2004).]
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If I have a block, I don't tend to write for a few days or so, but I also think about what I'm wanting to write, and how things are going to progress. But usually when I start writing I think of new things of how things will go, and it goes from there.
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)), usually into the wee hours of the morning. Normally, the muse whispers into my ear while I work, and in the end, I'm satisfied with the product. Until recently.
