by Joyce
Because I've been working so hard on my WIP, I don't have much of a topic today. Hence the title of this blog post.
On just about every blog I read, there have been posts over the past week on writer's block and what to do about it. It's a strange concept for me, because I've never suffered from it. At least not the kind where I can't write at all. I'm usually able to come up with something even if it's not what I want.
I think some people confuse writer's block with just plain, old getting stuck. I get stuck a lot. A plot point isn't going the way I wanted it to. A scene isn't working. You know what I mean. That's not writer's block. That's just part of the process. When that happens, and I'm not sure what to do next, I go and do something else. Walk through the yard, go shopping, clean the house.
One of the things that works for me is to take my laptop to another room. I was struggling with a chapter last week and as soon as I moved into the sunroom, suddenly it all came together.
Another big topics on blogs recently was the queryfail thing on Twitter. I'm not on Twitter, so I only know what I've heard second hand. Apparently quite a few agents posted bits and pieces of query letters and allegedly made fun of them. The letter writers were understandably upset. On Wednesday, Jessica Faust had an "agentfail" on her blog to let writers gripe about what bugs them about agents.
I haven't watched the show since about, oh, 1980 something, but The Guiding Light will be going off the air after 72 years. Can you believe it? 72 years? Nothing lasts 72 years!
I told you this post would be all over the place. Now it's your turn. Do you ever get writer's block? What's your "cure?"
Have you followed the queryfail thing? What's your take on that?
And any Guiding Light watchers? Will you be sorry to see it go?
5 comments:
I had a major case of writer's block that lasted 25 years and ended about five or six years ago. It's called "letting life get in the way."
I'm "on" Twitter, but avoid it for the most part, so I missed all the fuss.
I watched Guiding Light up until about a year ago. Still, I recognize enough of the characters on the promos to know I could still check in at any time and not be lost. Can't say the same for As the World Turns. Anyhow, yes, I'm sorry to see GL go. I wonder if they'll stick Reva and Josh back together before they end it.
I think the last time I watched it was the first time Reva and Josh got together. One of the reasons I quit watching soaps years ago was because they kept breaking up the couples that you wanted to be together, like Reva and Josh on GL. And remember Patch and Kayla on Days of our Lives? That one really ticked me off.
And I know all about "life getting in the way." When the boys were little, I wrote some, but nothing even close to being publishable. That was my time to learn the craft and write my "practice books."
I never had writer's block for 5 years, happily writing for myself and considering the idea of publication in the distant future.
The minute I started even thinking about getting published, I got writers block and didn't write for MONTHS.
For me, writer's block happens when I am writing for someone else, not for myself.
I'm not on twitter and have never seen Guiding Light, so I can't comment. But it IS amazing GL has lasted for 72 years!!!
Ha, I'm having writer's block now. After writing five non-fiction books I had decided to write the novel that's been stewing for so many years, but now I can't decide which way to jump. And what to leave out! You can't throw everything into a book, I know. But small changes can make enormous changes in the way a story goes, so I'm torn.
I watched GL for a few weeks, years ago, because of Justin Deas. But I didn't have a clue what was going on, so I went back to the ABC soaps that my mother watched when I was a kid, and then I watched when my kids were small and napping. My favorite soap of all time has been long gone, Santa Barbara. I can't believe GL lasted, but SB didn't. And I still mourn Yellow Rose of Texas, a nighttime drama starring Sam Elliott (swoon) and Cybil Shepherd. I know, "What?"
Word verification: preman As in boy?
I agree that what is often referred to as writers block s getting stuck. Stephen King once said writers block is what happens when we try to be better writers than we are. I agree with that, too, as they're related.
Of course, for people much more in love with the idea of being a writer than they are with the reality of putting ass in seat, "writers block" is so much more romantic sounding.
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