Blogging doesn't come easily to me. For the most part, I have the type of life that is same old stuff, different day. Sometimes it's even hard to tell the different days apart, such is the rote and routine of my life. So after racking my small brain for a subject, it occured to me I already had one. Something I struggle with constantly. You guessed it: writer's block.
Yep, me and that big black void in my head are really good friends. So good that it visits me several times a year. Like an unwelcome realtive, it parks itself on the couch in my mind and refuses to budge as it gnaws away at my few good brain cells. Not just for a day or two, but weeks, sometimes months. And where, you ask, is my muse in my darkest hours of need? Well, he (yeah, he) is a stubborn cuss and lazy, lazy, lazy. Here's a little snip of the usual convo between Devyn and her muse. For identification purposes I shall identify him as Bubba, because he's kind of dense and absolutely useless.
Devyn (staring at empty screen): So Bubba, ready to go to work?
Bubba (yawning, still in bed): Nope.
Devyn (pissed off): But I've got a deadline to write a new novella and the days are ticking off. How can I do that if you refuse to get your ass in gear?
Bubba (rolling over and putting pillow over his ears): Why do you need me anyway? Don't you already have the plot all worked out.
Devyn (scratching head): I have a synopsis, but no plot. It's up to you to supply the meat and bones.
Bubba (showing no interest): I'm sorry. You're just going to have to figure these things out for yourself. You're the one who wanted to write. Not me. I've got better things to do--like sleep.
Devyn (whining): Work with me, please....
Bubba: zzzzzzzzzz
I've sat for hours day after day staring at this nice 19" inch monitor of mine, wondering where the heck the words would come from to fill the required number of pages I needed to turn over to my editor. Dunno where they are. I can't find them. I've looked high and low. I've read books, studied the dictionary, taken long long drives to free up my mind. The days tick off, my deadline draws ever closer--and I've still not written a word.
So what to do to get over it? I honestly don't know. I usually reach the point where I just sit down and just write the darn thing. Doesn't matter if I have a plot or not. I just start writing. I don't worry about typos, I don't stop and proof. I just sit and write. Most times I pick a few songs that seem to convey the mood of the story and play them. Over and over and over. Then the miracle happens. Some how, some way, it all seems to come together, and on time.
So there's my sad tale of woe. How about you? What do you do when your lazy muse has packed up and moved without telling you goodbye?
Posted by Devyn Quinn ::
3:42 PM ::
7 comments
