The Well-Red Mage loves to ask great questions every now and then, and I’ve answered a couple of them in previous blog entries! His 3rd question (he’s up to 6 now… one day I’ll answer them all!) was this: How do you overcome writer’s block?
I’m by no means an expert on writing, but obviously I enjoy it. Writing is something I’ve done since I was a kid… I wrote my first story when I was 5 about a frog named Jimmy 🙂 I’ve got a whole collection of stories I’ve written since then, including many unfinished works. Plus I write blog entries of course 😉 But like everyone else, I occasionally have the dreaded “writer’s block.” So what do I do? My answer is actually pretty simple: I don’t write.
That may sound weird, but I am a firm believer in “you can’t go forcin’ something if it’s just not right.” (Thanks, Green Day!) I often solve my problems by not thinking about them. Sounds counterintuitive, but I feel like focusing on something else for a little while somehow provides me with my solution. So when I want to write but I’m having trouble, I put the pen/ keyboard away for a little while and do something else. Eventually inspiration will strike again! 🙂
Walk Away From The Sun... 
So true! Plus for me, I have to be enthusiastic about something to write about it. I guess I’d make a lousy journalist!
Haha, same here! The minute I had an assignment to write about something that bored me, I’d probably fail miserably. Although when I was in school and had to write papers, I could BS my way through most of them even if I hated the topic! 😉
I tend to get more stuff done when I’m not working on a review at home. I’ve found a way to use slower periods at work to my advantage to get the reviews done. As a result, I’ve been able to get at least one review done per week when I had difficulties doing that before. The only real exception is when I’m very close to finishing it – at that point, I can get it done regardless of where I am.
That makes sense! I wish I could write at work, but I seem to always get interrupted and can’t focus.
That’s a very wise course of action, I would say! =D
It’s always worked pretty well for me!! 🙂
Same here! I have so many other things/projects to work on that if I’m not feeling it, I’m just not feeling it. It will come back to me and all will be well. I’m a planner/plotter so I usually know where the story needs to go, but I might need to figure out how to get it there. Heck, I shelved my NaNoWriMo project for a number of reasons, one of which being I wasn’t fond of the direction it was going. Sometimes you need that time to catch your bearings and often working on something else will give your brain time to figure out where you want to go with the other project 🙂