Writing Slump

lauragill · Post by **lauragill** » Mon October 22nd, 2012, 5:18 am

I just came away from a six-month writing project, and now have absolutely no energy or drive to start writing anything else, much less the final book in my series. I've had these dry spells before, but they're always so debilitating when they happen. It doesn't feel natural to not be writing something.

Shaddix1980 · Post by **Shaddix1980** » Mon October 22nd, 2012, 4:26 pm

It is good to take a break ever now and again. Read some books, watch some movies, talk your story out with other people; anything to help re energize your mind.

DianeL · Post by **DianeL** » Mon October 22nd, 2012, 4:38 pm

It sucks being damned if you do, damned if you don't. Would it work for you to set a specific time to take a break and come back to writing - a day, a week? I know we all work so differently, but maybe it'd help to have a clear sort of sabbatical period to let ideas work on themselves.

wendy · Post by **wendy** » Tue October 23rd, 2012, 1:58 pm

Sorry to hear this Laura. My mentor once gave me some great advice to avoid writer's block - always have two projects going at the same time. Then when one line of thought dries up, you can instantly switch to the other!
I know this doesn't help you at the moment, but it might work in future to avoid the situation ever happening again.
In the meantime - read, read, read. Good luck

Justin Swanton · Post by **Justin Swanton** » Wed October 24th, 2012, 12:16 pm

Who was that distinguished US author (made it to Time) who rented an apartment with only a chair and table, glued up his laptop ports so he couldn't go on the internet, and stayed there until he had written his quota?

Personally I'm finding it difficult to get on with my sequel - too much other stuff going on at present. Difficult to leave the real world behind and plunge into that world of the imagination.

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Post by **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Wed October 24th, 2012, 5:22 pm

I got stuck this week too. It seemed that nothing I put on paper had any life or quality. Which sucked my motivation dry.

Maybe you have spent so much time going over the planning of the sequel that it feels dry as dust, an obligation. So switch it up a little. Brainstorm about the things that get you excited, the stories you REALLY want to tell. Maybe even something way off-topic.

That worked for me a couple days ago. I wasn't blogging because it interfered with my writing (only so much creative oomph! in my day, after all, and then the dopamine runs out). So when the writing went flat, I decided to post something new, but didn't have much enthusiasm for the planned next segment (about a difficult airport hostage situation I was in some 30 years ago--big mistake, it turns out I didn't really feel like making that into a funny story.)
Anyway, I found myself relating an anecdote to a young lady waiting on me in a shop about the late owner of the business, and I went home and wrote it up. And suddenly my nearly dead blog is getting a zillion hits from the man's relatives, who are grateful to have their friend remembered.

So if I'm not getting forward on the main project, at least my writing is useful to someone.

lauragill · Post by **lauragill** » Thu October 25th, 2012, 7:46 pm

Tried something new yesterday, but not quite into it yet. Am afraid it might suck.

LoveHistory · Post by **LoveHistory** » Fri October 26th, 2012, 1:15 am

I have a lot of trouble with that myself, Laura. NaNoWriMo has helped me a lot. I find it particularly helpful in setting aside my perfectionist tendencies to help me get the story out.

Justin Swanton · Post by **Justin Swanton** » Fri October 26th, 2012, 5:25 am

[quote=""MLE""]Maybe you have spent so much time going over the planning of the sequel that it feels dry as dust, an obligation. So switch it up a little. Brainstorm about the things that get you excited, the stories you REALLY want to tell. Maybe even something way off-topic.[/quote]

True. I'm having a headache with plot development. Meantime another story has popped into my head.

Yes. Think I'll take the advice.

Alisha Marie Klapheke · Post by **Alisha Marie Klapheke** » Tue November 6th, 2012, 10:11 pm

Sorry to hear it lauragill. When I get the blahblahblues, I watch stupid movies and TV and then attend a conference if I can. The first gets me loose and smiling again. The second spurs me onward.