posted
I know we're all guilty of it (and professional writers talk about it) but how do you combat the fact that you simply can't be bothered doing anything, even though you have plenty to do?!
Right now I'm not even writing anything as such, just typing up and editing into the computer a story I wrote a little while back (all my first drafts are done longhand using good old lined paper and pencils!) Don't get me wrong, I've started it - it's just that I'm feeling too lazy to keep at it!
Fact is, I'd much rather take a long hot bath and listen to some blues music or watch a DVD with my girlfriend or go back to reading Michael Chabon's Summerland. Truth of the matter is, I'd much rather read one of the books on my bookshelves than write one of my own.
*sigh*
I tell myself that it's because I'm working seven-days-a-week in my regular job, but there again earlier this year I wrote a 70,000+ novel in eleven weeks whilst working seven-days-a-week. (although, admittedly, at that point I'd only just started in on the seven-days-a-week thing. Now I'm eight months into it.)
I actually thought that was pretty good, until I read that you crazy cats are into this write-a-50,000-word-novel-in-a-month thing! Sheeeesh! Still, many years ago I did do a 27,000 word novella in two weeks, so I guess a novel-in-a-month isn't outwith my means -
- except that I'm feeling bone-idle lazy!
I'm not, necessarily, the kinda person who can write just for it's own sake. I do tend to desire a certain personal involvement in what I'm writing. Not creative non-fiction but, yes, I do like to take a private moment from my life or someone I know or have known, use that as a kick-off point and then play the 'What if?' game with it and see where it runs to. Most of my stuff, I guess, would fall under 'contemporary fantasy'.
And that's, kinda, maybe it: I feel that I've already written all the stuff I had a personal investment in, and although there are many more novels waiting they're 'mere' entertainments. Sorta thing I'd perhaps like to read, if only someone else wrote them for me because I can't be bothered!
I usually have good discipline (I know I did whilst writing that novel earlier this year: 1000 words a day, and if I fell short I'd make up for it the following day.) I could set myself goals and almost always meet them - again, finish novel before Worldcon, which I did, with some three weeks to spare.
But not now, it seems. I can't even egg myself on enough to finish typing up a story that's already finished, if not yet polished.
Even posting this topic is just an excuse to not do any work!
Oh, gee, is that the time already? (7:30pm, GMT) Gosh, think I'll go for a bath, then catch the Kirsten Dunst movie, The Virgin Suicides, that I'd promised Audrey I'd watch with her. Then, when that finishes, it'll be time to hit the hay in order to get a good sleep before getting up at 5 tomorrow morning for work. So, it looks like I won't be able to work on typing up and editing my story anymore tonight.
Oh, gee, darn it! Don't you just hate that?!
[This message has been edited by Paul-girtbooks (edited November 01, 2005).]
posted
personally, i found the best thing to do is to wallow in my laziness until i am good and fed up with it.
Posts: 2710 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
Could be that you just need to fill up the reservoir for a while. Especially since you say that you've written the stuff you feel you need to write.
Sometimes "writer's block" just means that the well/reservoir is too low and needs to be refilled with LIFE before you can have something to write from.
Another possibility is that you're spending your creative energy on something else without realizing it. You may not think of it as creative energy use, but that could be it.
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Long post: I know a good reason for that. It's called: Procrastination. And I know all about it. (Heck, it's what I'm doing right now, when I should be working on my NaNo novel, and that article I need to be drafting for the writing course I'm taking, or one of the many stories I need to edit...)
I write a lot, but so little of it is actually prose. I end up writing a lot of emails, a lot of personal journalling, a lot of griping about why I'm having trouble writing whichever story is giving me trouble, or griping about life in general. Half the time I write more ABOUT my stories than I do the stories themselves.
And then I look back at just what I've accomplished and feel guilty.
So here's what I do: I set aside a certain amount of time, and say I'm going to write whatever I want for ten minutes, or a page or two, and then I'll begin working on that story. Or if I'm feeling like the creative well is really dry, I freewrite until I find something that interests me, and I try that out. It may end up being nothing more than one of the dozens of unfinished story beginnings I have lying around, but it's something. I'll free myself up to start anything, any new project that interests me, without worrying about how good or bad it is because it's just for me. And usually I'll hit on something after a while that's interesting enough that I want to finish it.
The best way, for me, to get something done is to first begin it.
posted
When I want to write but can't be bothered to all I simply do is just force myself, something that is very hard, to sit down and write. I write little until I finally see something appear in my story then I get the idea rush and the creativity juices flowing again. I havent been able to do it for the last couple of days though because of my own job, but i have a couple of days off now so I might just go and write now.
Posts: 384 | Registered: Oct 2005
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Leigh: Yep. Works every time, Butt-In-Chair, BIC. (Hmmm. I'd always wondered what that TLA stood for on my stick pens...) Or at least, it works every time if you're not like me and can just sit there looking at a black piece of paper and twiddling with the radio for an hour...
I find it easier to write if I have something that interests me to write about, and don't care too much at the beginning what it sounds like. The trouble with this is that I end up with a lot of stories that need editing and not much interest in doing it...
Actually, I don't have much problem getting myself to work on writing a story. It's motivating myself to edit or rewrite it that's my trouble. How do you do that?
[This message has been edited by DeepDreamer (edited November 09, 2005).]
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DeepDreamer, I dont have a blank piece of paper, my hand writing is far too messy for even me to read. So i write on the computer as the it feels more natural for me, and i also seem to write more and quicker.
Posts: 384 | Registered: Oct 2005
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