I had the good fortune to see Lois Lowry, Jackie Davies, Kathryn Lasky, and Bill Thomson back in the fall of 2011 at an SCBWI New England event (I blogged about it here).
One of the take-aways I got was that NONE of these four creative people believe that writer's block exists. At least it doesn't for them. As professionals, they talked about just sitting down and getting on with it. Or as Jane Yolen says, Butt in Chair, Hands on Keyboard.
No "ums" "wells" or "buts" about it. No excuses. Just sit down and get on with it.
I just wish I had a picture--people, never go anywhere without your camera. Or at least, take a picture with your fuzzy camera-phone. Duh.
Theresa Milstein also blogged about this event back in October...she has pictures. :)
So, what are you waiting for? Get on with it!
5 comments:
I'm on here!
I remember their comments well. And I have to say, I only believe them in part. I get stuck in places. But now, instead of saying I have writer's block and doing no writing, I work on a poem or short story or revise earlier chapters or revise something else. I keep writing. I'm not blocked from writing, but I do get blocked from a particular piece of writing. And when the next step epiphany happens (often in the shower), I write on.
How about you?
Yes! I agree, Theresa. Moving on to something else, working through the "stuck-ness" instead of calling it block.
I procrastinate a lot more than I get blocked. And moving on to another thing--like a blog post, or writing a short story--definitely helps.
I don't believe in writer's block either. I just have to turn my editor off and allow myself to suck. You know, just getting the words down and out of my head. Heck, the real writing is in the editing, so we can get to that point if we don't put something down on paper.
I'm actually really happy to read this. What to do when you have writer's block is a common topic for discussion among aspiring writers... but I've never had that happen! I just assumed it's because I'm a noob- hey, maybe I'm doing it wrong. But, maybe it's not as common as it seems (according to all those advice posts meant to help writers) :)
Stopping by to say hello! I like the title of your post.
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