Not feelin' the love...

I can't really offer a 'cure,' but I'll gladly commiserate.

One thing I've seen repeatedly in my own writing is that if there's not enough sleep, or nearly enough, the creative juices do not flow. I can slog through something already planned out, but no ideas come, brilliant or otherwise.

Add to that the problem that may be unique to erotica writers. (Hmm, how to phrase this delicately?) If one's needs are fully satiated, or are absent for whatever reason, the will to write erotica may flee. If the author isn't wanting, then her characters (and readers) aren't either.

Maryn, who finds this can stall the best of us

I sometimes find a nice long walk with the dog helps me work through ideas. By the time I'm composing the opening lines and dialogue in my head I turn around and head back. I think it is something to do with fresh air and exercise and not being able to write it downb immediately..

I've been having the same trouble lately. I think it has something to do with spring; I get restless sitting at the computer. Because I don't have the right frame of mind to sit down and commit to a piece, I've just been turning out plot summaries that I will write when I calm down. It helps to get them down on paper so they are there when I'm ready, but I don't feel like I'm forcing myself to write for the sake of writing without it being good.

I've had the same problem for the last two weeks. I just can't seem to concentrate on work when I sit down. I'll say, "Okay, here we go. Just need to work on this for an hour. Just an hour. I can do that. Right?" Then I start, only to find myself here (an excellent place to be, yet not conducive to working at the moment) or browsing the Internet.

Even worse, I just got a stack of copyediting and a huge contract with a local company, the first which started already, the second to start in two weeks, so not only am I distracted, I probably won't have much time in the near future to devote to erotica. That makes me even more disappointed that I'm having such trouble focusing. I feel like I'm wasting precious time before my really big new contract starts. But, as with sex, when you force it, it's not nearly as good as when it just, ah...comes.

I've found that getting away from it all by taking a long walk, or going to the bookstore or just finding a nice place to get a coffee and watch people really helps. A bit of distance is sometimes vital to getting creative juices flowing.

Cue a chime in with a hearty "me too!". I find that I can web browse, do dishes, watch tv, just about anything else just fine, but the second I open my WIP, I get sleepy. Fall over snoring sleepy.

This is NOT a good sign, to my mind. My characters aren't boring and they're doing something, ahem, interesting at the moment, so either I'm weirder than I thought or my mind is playing tricks on me.

I find if I'm upset or worried about something, my subconscious knows it and balks. So if I can't write on my WIP, I open notepad and vent about anything that leaps to mind. Often, it turns out what I'm upset about, what I think I'm upset about, and what's really bothering me are three different things, and once I see them on paper I just feel better.

Worst case, I tell my fiance all the things that are bothering me, and suddenly, they just don't seem so overwhelming. You know, when something builds up in your brain as The Most Horrible Thing Ever, but you talk about it with someone, and it's just not that much of a worry?

You know, when something builds up in your brain as The Most Horrible Thing Ever, but you talk about it with someone, and it's just not that much of a worry?

Click to expand...

Absolutely. The annoyances that can put me in the foulest, dog-kicking mood (relax, everyone, we don't have a dog) go away completely when someone listens with a sympathetic ear.

And once that's done with, you can sit down and write!

Maryn