What do you do when your Muse decides to fly to Bermuda without you and you don't know when he/she/it will return? You stare at your computer, but the words are frozen to the keyboard?
What do you do when you lose your will to write? When you feel that no matter what you do, how much you try to spread your message, how accommodating you are to your fickle Muse, you feel that no one wants to read your words and no one cares?
A writing life is like riding a perpetual roller coaster, full of anticipation on the climb and exhilaration on the down slope. There are times when the ride seems to take forever, and there are times when the power fails and leaves you stuck on the inside of a figure-eight loop. If your Muse is in an especially evil mood that day, he/she/it releases the seat belts and the long security bar holding you in the car. And you find yourself flailing in space for something, anything to write as a life line.
I'm at that point today. Fellow writers, can I have some kind words and encouragement? Thanks in advance.
All writing and art copyright A. Dameron 2000-2010
We are on the same wavelength today, m'dear. I just made an lj post looking for prompts. I want to write, but not a novel, really. Just something. If that makes sense..
ReplyDeletePut my current project on the shelf, look through other things. Just to shut my mind off for a moment. And a shower helps
ReplyDeleteThanks for your insight, ladies!
ReplyDeleteJust get something down. Got it, Helene. :-)
And distractions do help,Mari. Think I'm gonna take the kids out this afternoon...thanks!
Annie
Opinion: Do not ever forget that creativity is a choice, that ideas are not finite, that others do not matter.
ReplyDeleteCreativity is a choice. If you find that you are unable to create anything, remind yourself that you are choosing not to create - a lack of creativity is not something that is external to you, it comes from within.
Ideas are not finite, they are endless, they are immeasurable.
Others do not matter. This is the heart of it. We care about how our art will be perceived, and that scares the crap out of us. We see writing as an Olympic event, as though our words will be shown to an international panel, so we've got to make it just so, otherwise the German judge will take off points.
Instead, write for yourself, as though you are the only one who will read what you write. Once you allow yourself to get into that headspace, the ideas will flow, because you will have taken fear out of the equation. And once the ideas start to flow, you will become the writer of your dreams.