Thursday, August 19, 2010

My Popular Post on Writers Block from The Liars Club Blog.



I’m just gonna spit it out: I don’t believe in writer’s block. I believe in L . I believe that L cures most writing problems.

That’s not a typo, that’s an emoticon for Chair. I believe in Chair. I believe in Ass in Chair. To sum up, I believe in uu + L .

There is no other alternative, except maybe L___. (Chaise.)

95 % of so-called writers block is procrastination or perfectionism, or a combination of both. If you are talented, and you think you are stymied by writer’s block, you need to delve into those two issues, which cripple many, many people. But they ain’t writers block.

And the other 5% of writers block is intuition. You know something’s wrong with your book or project, but you’re not sure what, and you can’t move forward until you know. If you are a lazy-ish writer, you should probably ignore it and forge ahead anyway, because you may stop and never begin again. If you are a diligent, non-lazy writer, you should probably do the opposite: force yourself to stop writing, and start thinking. Vow to just ponder your book. Read other books and draw inspiration. Go back to it when you have figured out what’s wrong.

Knowing how to tackle blockages really requires knowing what kind of writer you are. And for many who claim to be blocked, they have to look in the mirror and decide if they are in fact a writer at all.

Because people who write are writers. And people who dream about writing are dreamers. And here’s their emoticon: oo0oo. (head in the clouds, y’know?)

The Liars Club is a highly opinionated and talented author's collective that blogs about the writing life. Read us at www.liarsclubphilly.com

No comments: