I feel like I'm back at Square One with writing (rant)

I've been there. Even other people trying to encourage me with words doesn't help, because when I'm in the pit, words are my enemies.

All I can say is, I hope you get back to a place where writing brings you joy, soon.

And lots of money.

Hey SDS,

As a novice writer, I appreciate your candid honesty. I've heard other writers talk about going through different phases with their writing.

As I am just beginning to enter the ring (I'm up to about 40 pages into my first book.), I'm not going to have a very strong platform to encourage you.

In my mind, these valleys are probably a big part of writing the things that seem to make it difficult for you or pretty common, from what other writers say. I would think that if you backed off, gave your self some breathing room and took a fresh angle, it would help you get refreshed.

Write in small increments, experiment, read a book on writing, take a vacation, go do something fun, etc. Stop trying so hard and maybe you won't throttle the flow. Maybe a new hobby? Painting? Extreme sports?

I just think that whatever a person does in life, they should do because they have a passion to do it.

Hope something I said helps. Wish you well,

kid

Sean, sometimes it's important to keep on plugging, even when you hate what you're writing, and hate yourself for writing it.

BUT....sometimes, it's important just to walk away. To put your writing in a folder and go outside and leave it all alone for a week or two. Or longer. Writing is great for the mind, but you can drown in it if you don't learn to abandon it once in awhile.

I agree with PeeDee. Give it a good rest for a short spell, and maybe read something inspirational instead. Or get some exercise, and listen to some really great music while you're at it. All those "oughta" "shoulda" feelings are making you anxious, and the mind can't be creative when you're in that state.

Pat~ said:

I agree with PeeDee. Give it a good rest for a short spell, and maybe read something inspirational instead. Or get some exercise, and listen to some really great music while you're at it. All those "oughta" "shoulda" feelings are making you anxious, and the mind can't be creative when you're in that state.

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And by "read something inspirational" it means go read some novels that floor you. The sort of books that make you go "Geeze, I couldn't write like that...NEVER could I write like that."

It helps.

Yes, read something from the genre that most interests you. Right now my muse is on strike, and since poetry is the genre that most interests me, that's what I'm reading. I'm hoping that hearing the rhythms of good writing will entice the muse to return.

Writing is all about re-writing. If you don't love to re-write (or at least learn to do it) you'll never amount to anything in the world of writing. My rule of thumb is spend 70% of time re-writing, 20% of time researching and outlining, and 10% of time writing original pages. Give that a try on your next project and see if it helps...but writing is also about networking...entering contests...trying to get an agent...or if you really believe in your work self publishing...maybe try blogging...all sorts of stuff...

I agree with them (above me. Yeah, them) It might be best to give your brain a vacation, turn off the stress and frustrations, and read a few great books. Take up a new hobby that has nothing at all to do with writing, or launch yourself into a hobby you enjoy already.

You're a creative person, but we can all dehydrate our creativity now and again. I've had this happen, and the best cure was to acknowledge it, stop stressing, focus on something else and just have some writer-less fun. Then, suddenly (and usually when I'm the furthest away from a pen, paper or computer) I get hit in the brain with an idea so great, I HAVE to sit down and work on it, no matter how long it takes to get out.

Most of all, hang in there.

lippyone said:

Writing is all about re-writing. If you don't love to re-write (or at least learn to do it) you'll never amount to anything in the world of writing. My rule of thumb is spend 70% of time re-writing, 20% of time researching and outlining, and 10% of time writing original pages. Give that a try on your next project and see if it helps...but writing is also about networking...entering contests...trying to get an agent...or if you really believe in your work self publishing...maybe try blogging...all sorts of stuff...

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If I spent 70% of my time re-writing my stuff, I would have hung myself years ago.

Wow, I was typing my post when you posted, lippyone, and missed that. And I agree with PeeDee - 70% rewriting?

Shoot me now.


Seriously.

This is probably too simple, but:

I say write what you like to read. Whatever you enjoy reading most, write that. I tried to write the book I would like to pick up in a bookstore.

And afraid of failure? Hell, we all fail. Hard. All the time.

You can't be afraid of rejection. You'll get rejected. I promise.

Keep at it. Maybe, like PeeDee says, you just need a break.

25 years. Bah. I see your 25 years and raise it to 35 years.

Let's see where your writing career is in 10 years.

But then, guess what? I'll have 45 years then. I'll always have 10 years on you. So neener neener neener.

Have a beer and get back to the keyboard, mister.

Your signature line caught my eye:

Well, I've finally trunked my twenty-year-old novel and have gotten the closure I so desperately needed.

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Have you worked on one novel for twenty years? I worked on one novel for about the same time, trying to make it work and getting frustrated because it didn't and nothing I did worked. I also had a hard time with the length. Ultimately, I permanently shelved the story because it simply carried too much baggage because of all the frustration. Later, I realized one of my problems was that I had literally grown out of the novel and hadn't known it.

I would also suggest not worrying about what other people think a serious writer is. I had someone give me some bad advice years ago when I was trying to write screenplays. They said that, to be successful, I needed to write a screenplay a week. Okay, I wrote a screenplay a week, burned myself totally out, and didn't have luck selling any of them. Now I cringe everytime I hear someone say "You have to write X a day." Tonight I worked late. If I had a word count or time goal, I would have started it frustrated because of the lost time because I was late. Yes, there does eventually need to be some kind of push to write more, but if you're shooting for first publication, take the time you need. I'll tell you I learned a LOT of new skills (once I was willing to trash the first book and start a different one and do many, many revisions), and those lack of skills are why I struggled so much with the first one. The length issue may simply be a skill area you haven't learned yet. I still have trouble with length and have a tendancy to run under, rather than over.

Taking a break is a good idea. Use the opportunity to stretch your wings. Read something from every genre, even ones you wouldn't normally touch.

Good luck!

If I wrote one thing for twenty years, I would hang myself then too...

Neil Gaiman talks about a woman who told him that he wouldn't make any good money unless he wrote each issue of hsi comic in one week, like she did. He nodded, smiled, and kept on taking as long as he needed to. HIs comics have hung around forever and forever, and hrs are gone and forgotten.

Don't listen to stupid advice. Dont' be afraid to just write, without importance or gravity to the project. Just write something smash-bang-fun.

You can get burned out by a lack of creativity. You can get drowned out by too much creativity too. Make sure that's not happening. That happens a lot.

Everyone is different...some people agonize over every word and it takes days to create a single page of prose or screenplay. Others have a general idea what needs to be in a scene and they can write at a rate of multiple pages per hour. If you are in the former category maybe my ratio doesn't quite apply (you do a lot of pre-processing) but if you are in the latter category it most definitely does apply. Learn to love the rewrite and prepare to actually write something word reading!

I challenge you to ask any accomplished writer (other than media writers).

Hold on there. I don't recall telling you to take a break. I said have a beer and get back to the keyboard.

Sean, I go through the same feelings periodically, and when I do the quality of my writing takes a nosedive.

I've been re-reading the scenes I wrote a year and a half ago, in the previous version of my novel. I wrote them when I was writing only for pleasure, and it really shows. The writing is easy and flows well, and I'm surprised at how good it is -- better than a lot of what comes out of me on the days when I feel that I absolutely must write because if I don't I'll never be any good, and who am I kidding, I'll never be any good anyway, and then my life will have been wasted but nobody cares about me anyway so what difference does it make? You know, that all-or-nothing shit some of us put ourselves through.

When that starts to happen I just do something else, because ultimately I'm doing this for the sheer joy of writing.

Maybe you should submit your letter to a writing mag... it's a popular sentiment. They might like a new take on how terrifying writing can be, followed by a quip about still writing?

Shadow_Ferret said:

Hold on there. I don't recall telling you to take a break. I said have a beer and get back to the keyboard.

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You're a meanie.

There aren't too many people that know I didn't write for two years after a certain sleazy publisher got my ms from my scam agent. (guess there will be about 13,000 or so now lol) I had the best of both bad worlds at the same time, as well as that cloud 9 feeling before the rug was pulled out from under my feet. It took two years for me to pick up a pen and write more than a grocery list or a note to my sons teacher. I don't know that my doubts will ever go away, but I have written something in one form or another since I was a kid. I had to step way back and take a hard look at everything. I still blame myself for being naive about agents and publishers, but then at the same time I have to remember that there wasn't any of the negavity about either one when my book was put in print. None that I found anyway, and I did look. I got my contract cancelled without too many of those lovely rant replies that didn't answer any of the questions I had posed, and started rewriting my book for my own satisfaction, if nothing else. I sit here now and still wonder if what I write will ever really be "good enough" but I refuse to keep letting that one bad experience ruin the rest of my life. So... I write and I write and I write and then I tuck it away or put it on the computer. Right now it doesn't matter what words come out of my head or what genre they need to be stuck in, they are being written. When I get my current books into the best form I think they can be then I will start submitting them and see what happens. Besides, if I don't write down all that my mind thinks about, how in the H E double toothpicks will I EVER use up 17 reams of printer paper, a dozen or so notebooks, or use all the lead in the pencils that fill one whole drawer of my desk? My closet is ... well... I wouldn't open it too fast lol. I wrote down the details, not all of them, but enough to perhaps make a point, and then put it somewhere where maybe it can be of some good.

Take care Sean and try to focus on the positives and not the negatives. I know it's not easy, but I also know that if you only focus on the doubts then you won't be able to get past them. Not sure this helped any or not. If you want someone to talk to feel free to PM me. I am not sure how much help I can be, if any, but I got biiiiiiig ears... or is that shoulders? Hmmmm, where's that damn mirror when I need it? Oh wait... I remember now... last time I saw it was this morning when I woke up. It screamed, jumped off the dresser, and bolted out the door.

Take a break, but make it a short one. Before going back to writing either your novels or anything similar, try doing reviews or an article that's not creative, but critical in approach. Read a lot, but resist the urge to write creatively while doing it.

Then go become the next best selling phenom.

There, that was easy, huh?

We're here, and we've all been THERE.

I've gone back to square -437. I think I see you way up there ahead, but the air is all dim and blue and it's so far, I can't be sure. Can you wave?

caw