Monday, March 27, 2006

Writing = Pounding Head on Keyboard

Saturday afternoon, I had the place to myself. Just my dog and I. Hubby had my daughter over at his house and I had seven hours stretched out before me with uninterrupted bliss.

My plans included writing, writing, and writing...and taking a very long walk.

But when I sat down at the keyboard, it felt forced. Like trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip, as the old saying goes. And it was so frustrating for me. Here I was, with all this time on my hands, and I couldn't get the words to flow!

I decided to take a nap - just a short one, I promised myself - to maybe work through my plot problems. And I won't lie to you - that nap was heavenly. It was also FOUR HOURS LONG!

I wasn't happy when I woke up and saw the time. But instead of moping about, I put on my walking shoes and my dog and I went for a nice, long walk. When I came back home, I sat down at my computer and typed out the rest of my plot.

Yesterday I managed to write half a page and again, I felt like I was banging my head on the wall. Why, I thought, am I having trouble when I know what I need to write? That's how I like it, after all - I need to have the scene in my head before I sit down at the computer. But for some reason, I wasn't letting go of my inner editor - and writing the bare bones, like I blogged about a few days ago.

I hope tonight will be different, and I can encourage my inner editor to take a hike. :-)

10 comments:

  1. Very frustrating, but sounds like you needed a rest!! You don't sleep for 4 hours in the afternoon unless you're tired!!!

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  2. I know that feeling. I've had the whole house to myself, sat down with the best of intentions and nothing comes. I agree with Toni, sounds like you needed the rest.

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  3. I hate it when that happens, but it DOES happen sometimes. And the more you stress about it, the worse it will get. So try not to force it.

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  4. Anonymous10:29 AM

    I had Saturday morning to myself, too (a very rare occurence!) and I read for hours. :-) I didn't stress about using the time for writing, I needed some reading time. I think we tend to cut short our reading once we become writers and this is a big mistake. Reading is important. If we don't refill, there's nothing to come out. If you're tired, sleep. :-) You'll write much better anyway. I have come to realize it isn't a race. It's better to have quality rather than quantity. Sometimes I don't write for a while, then I sit down for a few hours and write as much as I would have written for a couple weeks. That's encouraging. By the way, I did write later that day and it was good stuff. :-)

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  5. Anonymous12:16 PM

    But the four hour nap was delicious while it lasted, wasn't it?

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  6. Anonymous1:00 PM

    You can do it Melissa! Don't encourage the inner editor, kick her the heck out!

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  7. I've had that happen to me too, Mel. I agree - it's horribly frustrating. You did the right thing, IMHO - sleep and a walk can get the creative juices flowing :-)

    Hope you have better luck at the keyboard tonight. And don't, whatever you do, feel bad about it.

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  8. Rachel is right - you can make it worse by stressing about it. You obviously needed the nap.

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  9. Anonymous4:33 PM

    Hope tonight the pages flow! It seems like having actual long blocks of time isn't conducive to writing much. I don't understand that. :(

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  10. Anonymous6:34 AM

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