writers block or laziness??

jamrine · Feb 3, 2006

About 4 or so years ago I started writing. At first my inspiration came from my disgust with my job and then story ideas started popping into my head. I wrote religously for about 2 years or so (4-6 am everyday). It was wonderful. I have 3 completed fictional novels. Then all of a sudden it hit me. I lost all my nerve, I lost all my excitement, and I lost all my motivation. For the last year or so I have thought about writing, but I can't get started. I can't even edit my finished work. I am wallowing in self pity and I can't get out of the mud.

My mind is still working on story ideas. Its the physical act of writing that has lost my attention. Even if I try to sit at the computer or hold a notebook and pen my mind wonders to other things. Its like if I try to write I can't concentrate, but when I don't try I have so many great thoughts and ideas. I'm afraid I will forget all my thoughts if I can't get them notated.

I can't figure out if this is writer's block or laziness. But, whichever one it is there has to be a cure.

Yeshanu · Feb 3, 2006

jamrine,

Try not to put labels on yourself, first and foremost.

I find that if I can't sit down for large periods of time to write, going for a walk to get the ideas flowing, and then sitting down immediately upon returning home to jot down what I thought about helps. I don't aim for large blocks of time or huge page counts here -- I'm just trying to get down what I thought about so I don't lose it. Usually about 2 or three pages.

You don't say if anything else, like your job, has changed suddenly. Perhaps that might be the problem, or perhaps the writer's block might signify that you need a change, especially if you dislike your job.

As long as your mind is still churning out ideas, there's hope.

Arkie · Feb 4, 2006

jamrine said:
About 4 or so years ago I started writing. At first my inspiration came from my disgust with my job and then story ideas started popping into my head. I wrote religously for about 2 years or so (4-6 am everyday). It was wonderful. I have 3 completed fictional novels. Then all of a sudden it hit me. I lost all my nerve, I lost all my excitement, and I lost all my motivation. For the last year or so I have thought about writing, but I can't get started. I can't even edit my finished work. I am wallowing in self pity and I can't get out of the mud.

My mind is still working on story ideas. Its the physical act of writing that has lost my attention. Even if I try to sit at the computer or hold a notebook and pen my mind wonders to other things. Its like if I try to write I can't concentrate, but when I don't try I have so many great thoughts and ideas. I'm afraid I will forget all my thoughts if I can't get them notated.

I can't figure out if this is writer's block or laziness. But, whichever one it is there has to be a cure.

Jamrine:

Maybe the key lies in what happened to the three novels you wrote. Did you publish any or all of them?

Julie Worth · Feb 4, 2006

jamrine said:
About 4 or so years ago I started writing. At first my inspiration came from my disgust with my job and then story ideas started popping into my head. I wrote religously for about 2 years or so (4-6 am everyday). It was wonderful. I have 3 completed fictional novels. Then all of a sudden it hit me. I lost all my nerve, I lost all my excitement, and I lost all my motivation. For the last year or so I have thought about writing, but I can't get started. I can't even edit my finished work. I am wallowing in self pity and I can't get out of the mud.

Sounds like you’ve lost your muse, which was the muse of Disgust. Did you quit your job, or did they finally realize how valuable you are and give you a raise, thereby destroying your need to write? If so, perhaps you could find other things to be disgusted about. Pick up the paper, jamrine, there’s something on every page!

jamrine · Feb 9, 2006

It's interesting. Once I wrote about my writing issues I felt immediately better. My muse is still alive...I guess she was just on hiatus. She's slowly coming back to me. Wish I could take that kind of vacation.

I think my writing started out as poetic thoughts because my job was so meaningless. I don't like being ordinary, I don't like living the "yuppie" lifestyle, and I don't like throwing away my values for some overpaid executive. And to think that was 3-4 years ago and nothing has changed, except for my perspective. I think its time to revisit some of my original work so I can remind myself why I started writing in the first place.

Thank you for your words. They helped me find myself again and I feel more motivated to write. I guess I am meant to feed off the negative energy in order to fully understand my creative self.

Yeshanu · Feb 9, 2006

jamrine,

That's the way it works sometimes. Glad to hear your muse is back.

dlcharles · Feb 10, 2006

Jamrine: My first concern is more about why you feel you were "wallowing in self-pity". Without being too intrusive I would question what led to this; obviously it wasn't the writing. Sometimes we merely need to put words down on paper as a stress relese - and there isn't a time limit (or word limit) to heal the stress. For several years I owned an art studio in West Allis, Wisconsin and worked at the craft 24/7 - then one day I suddenly just lost any desire to continue and packed everything into boxes - and finally threw them away, paintings, drawings - all of it - and sent my students elsewhere. I still have no desire to work with my art, but no one misses it.

Insofar as 'writer's block' - I have never understood the term. I will not live long enough to put down the stories constantly pulsing in my head. I have never outlined a fiction work simply because when I dream the story it appears completely written already - I just go back and type it.

novelwriter · Feb 15, 2007

I like that topic Writer's Block or lazyness? I have to admit that is a good question that I wonder about myself. Let me pose this question how do you know the difference between the two.?
Happy Writing!
Novelwriter

czjaba · Feb 27, 2007

I think Motivation is the difference between Writer's Block and Laziness. But, to be fair, let's throw another reason for not writing into the mix...Just not the right mood.
To me, Laziness is when I decide to go do laundry or dishes or something to avoid writing. Writer's Block is when I sit in front of my computer for 3 hours and write 2 pages, only to erase them all later. Just not the right mood is when I write during commercials.
I am usually in front of my computer all the time, but I only attempt to write late at night or early in the mornings. The rest of the time, I'm reading, and chatting, and thinking.

Aprylwriter · Apr 5, 2007

I usually write better when I'm happier. If I'm unhappy, or if I'm just being stubborn, I have trouble writing. I know, for writers like Edgar Allen Poe, the opposite is probably true. It depends on the person.

Apryl

Sean D. Schaffer · May 20, 2007

novelwriter said:
I like that topic Writer's Block or lazyness? I have to admit that is a good question that I wonder about myself. Let me pose this question how do you know the difference between the two.?
Happy Writing!
Novelwriter

I agree this is a good topic. Writer's Block has always interested me, and I find it to be an interesting, if contentious, discussion. Might I be allowed to comment on this?

To me, the difference between laziness and Writer's Block goes something like this:

Writer's Block: Writer does everything they can to get inspiration so they can continue writing.

Laziness: Writer does not put a good-faith effort into getting the inspiration to continue.

I honestly think that is the main difference between Writer's Block and sheer Laziness. Writer's Block takes place mostly with people who are giving their writing a good-faith effort, whereas Laziness doesn't even try.

Nefertiti Baker · Sep 16, 2007

Sean D. Schaffer said:
I agree this is a good topic. Writer's Block has always interested me, and I find it to be an interesting, if contentious, discussion. Might I be allowed to comment on this?

To me, the difference between laziness and Writer's Block goes something like this:

Writer's Block: Writer does everything they can to get inspiration so they can continue writing.

Laziness: Writer does not put a good-faith effort into getting the inspiration to continue.

I honestly think that is the main difference between Writer's Block and sheer Laziness. Writer's Block takes place mostly with people who are giving their writing a good-faith effort, whereas Laziness doesn't even try.

I know that this is old, but it's something that's near and dear to me right now.

There's a definite difference between laziness and WB.

For instance, I'm stuck in a complete writing rut right now, and will do anything else - ANYTHING - but write, even though I have wonderful ideas swimming around in my head. Doesn't mean I'm lazy. Instead of writing, I'm reading, or doing things in my home. I'm not twiddling my thumbs. Therefore, I'd call it a blocked condition more than laziness. When I'm blocked, wild horses couldn't get me to actually sit and write something.

Using the term "laziness", I think, places blame on the writer that then causes even more lack and frustration. It's more judgment that the writer doesn't need.

Laziness is a choice to turn one's back on things in order to pursue what's wholly pleasurable. WB is having inspiration, looking at the keyboard, and feeling total inner resistance to one's creative power. In other words, I see it as the writer turning into an artistic masochist.

HeronW · Jan 22, 2008

Subtle physical changes can make that writing space uncomfortable, skewing the perception: have arm/wrist pain from too much typing at work--doing it at home will also seem like work. Changing your desk or chair height, getting an ergonomic keyoard & mouse, adjusting the lighting that gives you eyestrain, getting and eye exam to update your glasses Rx so that reading is easier, simply redoing your screen settings and personalizing them could make an onerous task one that is fun again.

Jenan Mac · Feb 11, 2008

czjaba said:
I think Motivation is the difference between Writer's Block and Laziness. But, to be fair, let's throw another reason for not writing into the mix...Just not the right mood.

I'll throw another one in there: when you get to a point that you're not afraid so much that the next agent will reject you, but that s/he'll accept you as a client, and you'll have. to. do. it. again.
Fear of success is an interesting thing. Fortunately(?), I apparently had nothing to fear after all, so now I can write again.

Sean D. Schaffer · Feb 13, 2008

Someone recently posted a link to an article by Elizabeth Moon over in another thread, which concerns Writer's Block. The article has helped me to understand where my Block was coming from, and has helped me to overcome it.

The article can be found here.

I hope some of you who suffer the Block like I did, find the article helpful.

--Sean

Kenneth Brown · Apr 22, 2008

As a writer i admit that sometimes i lose my interest and mood in writing and for me "mood" is the most important ingredient or weapon in writing an essay/ articles. And when it happen, i just watch tv, do something else or go out and watch people who pass by on our street just to relax my mind and let ideas fall.

Blackest_Nite · Jul 12, 2008

Sometimes I want to write and am unable to at that time, but when I do have time I've lost all interest. I usually try to watch movies or read books that inspired me to start writing when this happens.

Nicki B · Jul 21, 2008

i think it's possibly laziness on my end... i'm also feeling inspired with millions of ideas, but none of them are coming together

writers block or laziness??

jamrine

Yeshanu

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Arkie

a reader's ear and a writer's heart

Julie Worth

What? I have a title?

jamrine

Yeshanu

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dlcharles

novelwriter

czjaba

dreaming of the day...

Aprylwriter

i am dragon. roar.

Sean D. Schaffer

Nefertiti Baker

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HeronW

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Jenan Mac

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Sean D. Schaffer

Kenneth Brown

Blackest_Nite

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Nicki B

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writers block or laziness??

jamrine

Elf Queen

a reader's ear and a writer's heart

What? I have a title?

jamrine

Elf Queen

dreaming of the day...

i am dragon. roar.

~*Hot Zen Kitty*~

Down Under Fan

The Deadliest Bunny

Rubbish Poet

Board Fanatic in Training

~Hot Zen Kitty~