This is where I am right now. Stuck here staring at this wall. I was working on the new novel, making decent progress until the middle of last week. Everything I've written since Thursday is crap and I'm not getting anywhere. The only thing I can think to do is just keep hitting the damn wall until one of us breaks. A couple of editors have kindly asked me to write short stories for them, but I don't know if I can afford that much distraction.
Pass me that sledgehammer...
Oh, and swing on over to the blog of kick-ass crime writer and all-around nice guy Declan Burke to wish him a happy 40th.
7 comments:
Wow! I click on your blog and it's like getting slapped in the face with my own brain. Is there a writer alive that doesn't think they suck?
Oh, and you should distract yourself with the shorts. Sometimes they help you find a way to smash through that damn wall.
Man, I swear, sometimes I live in the shadow of that wall. But a sledgehammer may not be the tool you need. For me, I hit the wall when something I've already written just doesn't sit right. (Insert princess-and-pea joke here at your own peril.) I go back, I reread, and usually, the fix is simple, and plain as day.
And whatever your fix may be, good luck finding it, and quickly.
I built the wall.
I'll agree with Snadra on this one, Patrick. Shorts tend to losen you up and rattle the brain up a little bit (and start something new, don't go back to a story you started a couple of months back.) Make it a solid little flash piece, something you can put down in one day and chances are this will get you moving again.
Writing the intro for The Lineup Issue 2 might give you a breather, too.
Having caught Gerald's subtle hint, I now go to do that thing.
You need a very hot cup of very caffeinated coffee and "Locamotive Breath" by Jethro Tull blasting in your ears then you sit down at the computer and GO, BABY! Straight for that wall at ramming speed.
VG
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