It’s hard for me to think when my mind is dry… better known as WRITER’S BLOCK. Writing a novel; drenching my soul to write “THE END” is like carrying a ton of bricks on my back and walking barefoot through the desert. It’s a solo journey moving my imagination inch by inch. Hands click away on the computer slower and slower and less enthusiastic. I’d like to think there are many writers like me, walking through the desert, in need of their brain to be refreshed.
More times than I can count, I need to step back and rejuvenate and drink clarity. I need clarity to move forward not just with writing but with life, itself.
One thing I do and it works: LOOK AT MY GOALS. Yeah, far too many, I say, but all are needed at some point or another. Funny, laughing at myself—all these goals are like all those sizes of clothes in my closet I can’t part with, because someday I’ll wear that size 6 dress again… really?!
I know my lack of sleep and concentration is because there’s too much on that piece of paper when folded, fits into a neat little square inch in the palm of my hand. I’M STUCK. So what I do pair: DOWN ALL these different sizes, DOWN TO THE FIVE IMPORTANT ONES. I call it my YEAR-ROUND SPRING CLEANING. These goals, I change often, putting the last one first or removing it all together for another one. My goal is to have no more than 5 goals swirling in my head.
Once my mind is clear, I can write every day. I don’t count the words. I waffle back and forth on this. I try, but with life getting in the way of life I can’t STICK to a specific number. JUST SHOOT ME. What I do, is write enough to move myself though to the next scene of my book. I try to write the same time each day (perfection is overrated), but it doesn’t work out that way. I’m not easily distracted, but I WORK another job in finance, and when I get home my mind is bone dry. It needs quenching. It’s my go-to music, a healthy meal, exercise, a small glass of red wine, and then, sitting down at my computer. I look at my writing goal (minus the word count), which is writing a damn good page about my lead character. When I was plugging away on my last story, THE LAST MERRY GO ROUND, I needed to flush out the scenes to bring rawness to them that left me literally exhausted.
Do writers need habits to get kick the WRITER’S BLOCK to the curb? I think, for me, I have to allow the writer’s block to have its way. This seems by all I’ve reached, IT’S A FACT OF NORMALCY—ALL WRITERS’ MINDS HAVE BEEN DRY AT ONE POINT OR ANOTHER.
Goals are needed, but for me, I have to realize no matter how bad I want to achieve EVERY SINGLE GOAL (over that magic number 5) I can’t. I need to step back and move through the WRITER’S BLOCK–and one thing is, checking and re-checking my goals to lighten the bricks I’m carrying, because getting through the desert without dropping dead IS the most important goal.