Sometimes it’s hard to write when you’re stressed.
Okay, when you’re stressed, it can often be hard to write. At least for me.
Lately, I’ve been coming up against a block. Don’t know what it is-it’s not writer’s block. I don’t really get writer’s block. What I get is stressed to the max, or frustrated, or just too depressed or too distracted to write.
That’s what I’m dealing with now.
I think I’m going to head out to Panera Bread and get some work done this week. We’ve been talking about that on one the writer lists I’m on and I need to just take that advice. Get out of the house.
Get away from the distractions. Just focus on the book and write.
It’s worked before.
It will work this time. I just need to do it. With the insanity of the holidays behind us and maybe now that this cold snap from hell has finally started to let up, I’m hoping life will return to normal. I can take my shiny new laptop to Panera Bread, be bad and have an asiago cheese bagel and some coffee.
I’ll forget there is other stuff a writer has to deal with…just focus on the story.
It’s so easy to forget that sometimes. We’re dealing with edits, and promo, and contracts, and taxes, and piracy, and revisions, and covers, and ideas, and plotting…and that’s just the writing related stuff.
That doesn’t include the other stuff-the stuff we’ve all got going on besides the writing. Many of us moms, and wives and daughters and sisters… or fathers, husbands, sons and brothers. Many of us are still juggling day jobs. There’s just so much going on besides the writing and it’s too easy sometimes to lose track of the writing.
I’m not writing as much as I used to and some of it is because of all of these things, and some of it is because I was just pushing myself too hard and I can’t keep that pace up.
I’m not writing as much and sometimes I’m losing track of the story because there’s so much other stuff that goes with being a writer.
I need to focus on that book again, and my first stop is Panera Bread. If I knock out enough words, maybe I’ll even treat myself to a shortbread cookie.
What about you? Do you find it easy to forget the story for the job? What do you do when you need to get back on track?
Shiloh Walker
http://shilohwalker.com/
http://shilohwalker.wordpress.com/
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3 comments:
I definitely suffer from that stress block effect. I know what I want to write about, but I'm too wound up to be creative, and have to force myself to put pen to paper.
I work in a call center, and tech support during the holidays is horrible. Mean-hearted customers put me on edge, and i wanted to write but was too stressed to do so, which made me more stressed, and I was going insane.
The only solution I have is to wait it out. I use video games, reading, or one of my other hobbies to relax. That, and the love of my fiance. No matter how freaky I get, he's always there to keep me balanced.
After this last holiday stress block ended, I proeuced approximately 20k words in a week. When I get out of it, I sure make up for it.
I'm with you. Stress blocks more of my writing than anything else. Sometimes it feels like I'm forcing the words out of my head, which makes for very stilted writing. When I get like this, I either work on another project, read, play a game, or do something entirely non-creative.
I think it's sometimes best to let yourself be distracted, as long as your distraction doesn't last too long. I found myself blocked on the ending of my latest WIP. Not only had I ruined it, but I couldn't find the right words, nor could I find the story! I took three days of not working on it, and when I finally just let it go, the ideas came back again. I knew exactly how to end it, exactly how I wanted to change the problems I'd made for myself.
:o) For some reason, my cure-all is Panera Bread. Not so much because of the food, although I do like that.
It's just my break away from the HOUSE... I'd written that post a few weeks ago and in the week that followed, I wrote mostly at Panera and managed to do about 15k in about a week. it helped... lots...
:o) Scenery changes-works for me almost every time.
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