I'm not the only one, I hope. (How selfish of me, I later realize during a quick re-read. Okay, I hope I am the only one, if only to know that no one else is suffering like I am.)

To elaborate:

I don't know why, but lately, I've had the feeling that writing was this monumentally epic task, and every time I sit in this kind of comfortable (but not really) wooden chair, I'm nearly overwhelmed by a feeling of dispair, one I can't seem to shake myself out of.

Now, I'm going to use my psychic powers and predict what some of you are going to say: "Just put your B In that C and start typing. Type without purpose, ignoring both grammatical and spelling mistakes, and don't worry if what you're saying doesn't make any sense. That's what the edit is for."

Good, sound advice. Truly. And I truly don't know why I can't listen to it. I can't type without purpose. Although my words later sound like mindless drivel (sometimes, not always), at the moment of conception, they seem like pure gold.

So I ask the more experienced amongst you: Is this more of the writing funk blues, or is it something more lasting? I fondly remember a time when I could write pages at a time, high on coffee and a near-ecstacy at my words, and I realize that those times are gone, possibly to never return, except for short bursts of creativity, ejaculated onto the page. (Uh...can I say that?)

I'm rambling, and I realize that, and to those of you who are throwing your hands in the air in frustration, rolling your eyes, and going "Again? Again!", I apologize. I could put this all down in a journal somewhere, but the questions would then remain unanswered, and I'd possibly go insane.

I need a little light at the end of this excruciatingly long tunnel. Thus, any opinions, words of encouragement, or assurances that I've fallen into a writer's hell and will never leave would be appreciated. Except for that last one, I suppose.

CVG

PS--Paradoxically, during such periods, any time when I do manage to get something down, something that doesn't die and rot almost immediately after composition, I feel like I've climbed Everest.

What you've just described could very well be your next story. Have you considered that? Because I couldn't help but think while reading your post that you were, in fact, telling me a story. And quite possibly, a very good tale at that.

This sounds so excruciatingly familiar. I keep coming back to one of my favorite quotes:

"Writing is easy," Madeleine L'Engle, the author of more than fifty books of fiction and nonfiction, once told me--herself paraphrasing the famous, now deceased baseball writer Red Smith--"all you have to do is sit down at the typewriter and sweat blood."
*Cathleen Rountree, The Writer's Mentor.

Now I'm going to recommend the above book. It's NOT a 'How to Write' book. It is, as the subtitle says, 'A guide to putting passion on paper.' It's encouraging and one of those that you don't have to read through to get something out of it. You can pick and choose what's relevant to you at the moment. Each chapter gives you writing assignments, quotes from published authors, and the easy encouragment you need to find your own way and keep yourself motivated. Good book. I pull it out often.
One whole chapter addresses writer's block and writer's procrastination and writer's self-doubt. Another chapter, Overcoming the Fear of Writing, addresses overcoming discouragment. Another chapter addresses maintaining the motivation to write.

From Dave Barry:
"I write for a couple of hours every day, even if I only get a couple of sentences. I put in htat ime. You do that every day, and inspiration will come along. I don't allow myself NOT to keep tring. It's not fun, but if you wait until you want to write, you'll never do it."

Or Eudora Welty:
"I would never encourage anyone to be a writer. It's too hard."

Or Jean Cocteau:
"Without resistance you can do nothing."

Or Debbie Allen: (Yeah, the actress, but still relevant to the topic, and I hope Monolith reads this thread, too.)
"Failure: Is it a limitation? Bad timing? It's a lot of things. It's something you CAN'T be afraid of, because you'll stop growing. The next step beyond failure could be your biggest success in life."

You'll come out of it, but not if you just sit and wait for it to happen. You have to do some climbing. It just gets discouraging when you feel like you're the ONLY one this happens to, or no one has as tough a row to hoe as you. It gets REALLY discouraging when you hear about folks around here (and I won't name any names) who claim they can crank out a short story (edits included) in two days. Maybe they can, but that's dreamin' for me--at this point anyway. Maybe someday?

In High School we didn't do any creative story writing, sure we had study and write poetry, study and write essays, study Shakespeare and other cool authors BUT write only essays.

After a few years of not really doing any writing, period., I decided to take Journalism. What could be better? I'm going to get paid to write every day, sign me up!

While I'm thankful for the experience, journalism left me feeling dried out as a writer. It did improve my writing but I felt stiffled as a writer. All my energy went into writing articles and I didn't even feel like trying anything creative.

I've since left journailsm (I've been so bad I haven't even finished my degree). That was about a year ago and I've done a few things in between, but now I'm working as a receptionist/switchboard operator. The company doesn't have a lot of things they can give me to do so I have to fill my time somehow. Since starting with this company four months ago I've completed two short stories (one I just got published, the other is really bad ), I've started two or three others and I've started a major overhaul on a YA novel I wrote in high school. And of course, I spend hours here at Hatrack

I don't know if this is the kind of thing you're experiencing, but if it is, take heart. All is not hopeless and the joy for writing does return. I'm not suggesting you take a long hiatus, but sometimes it helps. Get away from it for a while. Let things stew in your brain then pull something out and re-type it. Get into the flow. Then just write.

quote:

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I'm not the only one, I hope.

---

However, I've been writing on some other things and really enjoying it. I think of my writing as a sort of climate cycle. If you've ever made a self-contained terranium you might know what I mean. The water condenses on the top of the terranium until it final rains.

I have to take breaks where I don't do any writing for a while and I don't think at all about the story I've just finished (or that I'm working on). I just go on to doing other things and let the experiences of life percolate into little droplets of glorious creativity. When the storm cloud is full I just let it rip until I'm empty.

The story about my novel is sort of important because I wrote myself dry in Febuary and every time I tried to write I found a creative reason to get out of writing. Every word had to be bled out of me, forceably. I took a break and let the ideas percolate for about a month before going back and finishing it.

Jon

It does seem to pass eventually, so there is hope.

What I've found helpful isn't a change of scenery, but a change of working habits--habits that are more condusive to your writing needs. For a long time, I needed to be in control of my writing. So I planned my stories out, writing summaries and outlines. But everything I wrote seemed banal. It was a chore to sit down and write.

Then I commited myself to writing fast first drafts. That's worked for a while, but I found rewriting to be utterly insane.

Then I tried writing fast drafts and then, once knowing how the story was going to turn out, restart from the beginning with that story.

Now I do something different. I started writing in a notebook, sketching out a story before hand, then writing the first draft as fast as possible. Then I let it sit. Then I reread it. Then I spend a couple of days retelling the story by writing out different summaries. What I'm trying to do is find the best way to tell the story. Then I completely rewrite the story from beginning to end very slowly.

Each of these method changes came after several months of working one way and then getting frustrated over the results. I've said more than once that one of the hardest things of becoming a writer is learning how you write. There is no right or wrong way to write a story. The end result is all that matters.

So my suggestion is to try to change your working habits. It may or may not help. It's always helped for me.

(Apologations for the joke)

I am right where you are burned out. (I think of this more like fire than blood.) Right now I'm trying to fix this by writing how I get out of this. It's not going well as a piece but it's helping.