There is No Such Thing as Writer's Block

Many writers, especially young ones, will claim to have writer’s block.  What is writer’s block? There are as many answers to that question as there are writers.

In graduate school when I met with playwright Romulus Linney for the first time to discuss ideas for my first full-length play, I handed him my four page free-write about how I had no ideas and told him I had writer’s block. He took the pages, smiled and told me something that has kept writer’s block away for almost twenty years.  He said, 

“Cynthia, I’m going to tell you something writer to writer, there is no such thing as writer’s block. You may not be inspired by an idea or you may not know how to develop an idea or you may be afraid of an idea, but there is no such thing as writer’s block.  You can always sit down and write something.  You may not like what you write, but so what. Ninety-nine percent of my writing is awful stuff no one has ever seen.  But the remaining one percent, well, that’s the gold isn’t it?” He spread my four single sided pages on the table,  “You have to do a lot more writing.  You may have to write a hundred pages to find that one bit of gold. But I can guarantee you one thing, if you don’t do the work or you wait to be inspired, you will end up with nothing.  Writing is hard work.”

I have never been able to prove Romulus wrong in all these years.  It is wonderful when lightning strikes and golden words flow from your finger tips. When that happens go with it; do not question or analyze it; ride that horse as far as you can.  Unfortunately, that is the exception and not the rule; writers waiting for inspiration to write will have a long wait.  

Most days inspiration must be wrested from granite. Lightning is more likely to strike when you are sitting at your keyboard writing dreck, then when you are playing Call of Duty or sleeping. Writing is busting rocks with your head without a helmet.  My best stuff is the stuff I had to work to get. If writing was easy, everyone would do it. It is hard work that requires the courage of a skydiver.

There are writers who are not lazy and put in their time busting rocks with their heads and claim to have writer’s block. I think these writer's are experiencing a crisis of faith.

Writing takes the same kind of courage as skydiving. The audience wants nothing less than your blood and tears on the page. To give them that, writers must go to very scary places and conjure their worse demons or their best; equally scary. Very often a writer isn’t prepared for what comes up. They write themselves onto the precipice of a cliff over a chasm with no bottom and don’t know what to do.  When this happens there are two choices; go back the way you came or jump. 

Slowly stepping backward off the cliff and finding a way around will often solve the issue. But I recommend taking the leap off the lion’s head or a leap of faith. In the business of writing, the very worse thing you can be is mediocre; by taking the leap you will either soar with the eagles or fail spectacularly; both are good results.  Not every writer is ready to jump. Most writers will find cliffs over bottomless chasms long before they are ready to leap, I sure did.  If you are not ready, do not worry. Go back and find another path. But one time, when the fear is a bit less, just jump.

Whenever I find myself on one of these cliffs and do not know if I have the courage to jump, I like to watch the movie, “Indiana Jones and Last Crusade,” because it turns on a leap of faith and has a great visual for it.

I encourage all writers to learn to identify a cliff when they are on one. Usually a little voice in your head will say, “I you can’t write that!” or “That is stupid!” or "What will my parents think if they read that?" Have faith in yourself and take the leap. Take it from an experienced cliff jumper, it won’t hurt. I promise.

In Training 2 Write or Prompt the First

As a runner trains for a marathon, so a writer needs to train. 

Last year, I created a blog on tumblr for the purpose of practicing writing and it was incredibly helpful.

Crafting a 750 word story based on a Writer’s Digest Your Story prompt was a blast. The result of that had a big pay-off for me because I discovered writing prompts can yield marketable stories I never thought I would write. Something I never considered until I set-out to write for money.

The article, "50 Writing Prompts for Every Part of Your Brain," by Writer’s Digest Staff July/August 2014 gave me a great idea. Do writing practice based on these prompts and put it on your blog!  Well, I may not post the stories on the blog, but I can encourage others to be in training to write.

 Unfortunately, the article is not available online. I’m starting with number one, but I may not go in order. Here it is:

"Go to a public place and watch a young couple interact—but remain out of earshot. Based on visual clues alone, write the conversation the couple is having."

If you write a short story based on one of the prompts and would like me to read it, use the email button. If you have a g+ account, you can paste it in the comments below.

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I use the hashtag InTraining2Write for these posts.

750 or Bust

Turning 1,300 words into 750 words is not easy, but it makes a stronger, faster writer.

I used to scoff at writing prompts and the contests that inevitably went with them.  Having re-entered the fiction game with an eye toward making money, I subscribed to Writer's Digest because it is the best way to do due diligence in the markets. The February 2014 issue was the first of my new subscription. Every month they have a "Your Story" Contest that alternates between writing the first line of a story based on a picture and writing a 750 word story using a prompt as the first line.

Two things are true of all types of writing:  

• Practice=better, faster writing
• Producing good writing quickly; based on ideas not of your creation, to specifications not of your choosing, pays the bills.  

I decided to enter contest #56, a 750 word story based on a prompt--at least one person would read my work, right?

How the contest works is you use the prompt as the first line of the story.  You submit your story.  Then the WD editors chose 5 finalists that are posted to the Your Story section in the WD forms.  Those five are then voted on by the WD community.

"Phish! 750 words, piece of cake," I told myself.  The problem? I was not inspired by the prompt at all.  It was a line of dialogue and had to be the first line of the story verbatim. Here it is:

"If you can guess what I have in my pocket, you can have it."

Most likely the story would be about one of the Pollywog kids with a frog in their pocket and it died and they learn about death and responsibility or something like that.  I did not have a plan when I sat down to write.  I am a create as you go kind of writer (AKA in the moment).

What came out on the page surprised me.  It was very different from anything I had written or thought I would write and it was a complete fabrication. There was not a germ of biography from my life in it.  At first, it seemed it would not be long enough.  Then I couldn't find a natural ending and did not like where it went as I continued to write in search of the ending.

It was set aside for a day and mulled over. A few changes to the  circumstances along with a character make-over produced a viable story with an ending.  It was 1,700 words.

Yesterday, was dedicated to editing it down to 750 words.  That's 950 words to cut. The toils were tweeted.  When it was done, it felt like I built a stone wall from rocks first busted with my head. It was great writing exercise.  

I LOVE to re-write and this was a to-the-death cage-match.  I've collected the tweets below.  Who can relate?

The Toils Were Tweeted

On days you must cut a story, perfect at 1,375 words, to 750 words; those are the days you feel like a wordsmith and not a writer #writing

Only down to 1,159 words after the nip/tuck.  The next cut is REALLY going to hurt. #writing

Anyone know how to unclog the mouse ball on an Apple mouse? <--What would Dickens think of that sentence? #writing

Desperately checking to see if I read the word limit wrong...please let it be 1,000...no such luck. 750. Those evil Bs at WD! #writing

956 words. Oh, it hurts, hurts so bad.  It’s like a giant festering wound!  It can’t be done! #writing Delete the comma and 2nd hurts.

Nothing frees me up like giving up. 894 words. #writing

856 words. If this were a play; I’d have it done days ago. They can see who’s talking and how they’re saying it! #writing

803 words. I cannot cut my title line.  There’s got to be another way.  Maybe I can cut some more 'saids.'  Frigging prose! #writing

751 words. There has to be something I can replace with a semicolon. #writing

I did it! 750! Had to jettison a part I felt gave it depth. Maybe to ordinary without it. #writing #EditingRemorse

I'll go for a walk and maybe I'll get a brain wave. #EditingRemorse #writing

Read it out loud to the dogs. Doesn’t need the part. It has more depth without it. 746 words with title and by line.  Less is more! #writing

Time to proof for goofs #writing

I can so use ‘much’ and ‘these days’ in the same sentence grammar checker! #writing

‘Blazed’ is not modifying ‘dead’ you stupid grammar checker; it’s modifying...what is it modifying? #writing

It finally clicked why they’re called modifiers; they CHANGE the aspect of other words. #stupidwriter #writing

It’s only 739 words but they’re so beautifully arranged. Don’t we all have a little hubris when we finish a project? #writing

My little story is all grown-up and toddling off to it’s first day of being judged.  So proud. #writing

I'm walking around with glazed eyes muttering, "I can tell that story in 500 words...200 words...a 100 if I have to..."  #writing

This has been a dramatic re-creation of my day editing a short-short. #writing

If Dickens had to edit one of his stories to 750 words; he’d go on a 10-day twitter tirade! #writing #WWDD

I’m celebrating with a bottle of #LeelanauCellars Cherry wine and listening to @DollyParton! Good stuff! #writing

UPDATE: Rejection or Beginning of Something Wonderful

Ultimately, the story, "Plays Well With Others," was not selected as one of the five finalists. No losers here; this is a win-win. Here are the spoils of the hard fought battle:

• Knowledge of my abilities and how long it takes me to edit a project like this. Knowing what you can do and how long it takes, is invaluable if you want to make a living as a writer.
• A great story to develop for paying markets. (Yay to me for saving the longer version!) If it was chosen as a finalist, I would have got nothing but the thrill of seeing my name in print, but now I may get money!
• Knowledge as to what it feels like when a story is shoe-horned into to few words.  Says it all. Knowing something intellectually is good, but when you can feel it--then you got something.
• My instincts were correct about the missing parts. Having instincts re-affirmed by making a mistake in a way that doesn't lose money is a beautiful thing. You learn to trust them.
• Writer's Digest editors and I don't see eye-to-eye on what makes a good story. What makes good writing or a good story is subjective. It is hard to get two people to agree on this. Usually, when I get rejected and have the privilege of seeing what was selected, I can see the weaknesses in my piece. Not in this case. I felt my story was better than three of the finalists.  
• Two of the finalists, I felt, lacked emotional truth, something very important to me.  What this tells me is WD is probably not the best market for my work.  This is why it is very important to read the choices of agents or editor's you are submitting your work to.  However, I think I could craft something that they would select if I put my mind to it.  Will I?  I'm not sure. I got a lot out this, so if the mood strikes me, I may give it another whirl.

Contest #57 is a write-the-first-line-based-on-a-picture type.  When I saw the picture, a line popped into by head, so I sent it in.  Can't hurt.

The story isn't posted because I hope to sell it to a consumer magazine that publishes fiction. It's bad business to give away something you want to sell.

Keep write writing!

Getting it Write: The Bowel Story or Never Trust Grammar Checkers

Never trust automated editing software. Spell and grammar check are great tools, but a professional writer can not depend on them. Proofing every word is part of the craft and should be done as if Spell Check did not exist. I recommend printing and reading the copy far away from the computer. Ignore this advice and this may happen to you.

Back when I was an undergrad at Wayne State University in Detroit, I wrote my first play, "Winter Sunrise," and entered it into the writing contest help each year by the English Department. It is the heartbreaking story of the struggle between a father and a son that has their family in tatters. The father desperately wants to give family farm to his son, but the son wants to be an artist and hates the father for trying to keep him down.

I wrote the play, proofed it and sent it to many, many places. I went over and over the script on the computer making sure there were no mistakes. I relied on Spell Check for spelling and Grammar Check for wrong word usage. 

The play won the very prestigious award from the English Department at Wayne State, and they invited me to come and do a reading. I picked the pages and prepared it for the reading. When I arrived at the ceremony, everyone was surprised I was a woman. My first name is Cynthia. They assumed I was a man because I wrote very well about tractors, they explained. A guy named Cynthia?

Plays function by concretizing emotions and translating them into actions. In the play, the son is famous in his hometown for doing intricate carving. When the son was ten, for his father’s birthday he made a carved bowl with the scene of a winter sunrise over their farm because the Dad loved to watch the sunrise. The son was proud of it and certain he finally did something his Dad would love and subsequently would love him. The father, a man of taciturn disposition, said nothing about the bowl. He glanced at it, set it down and said, “Let’s have cake.” It was never seen again. The son believed his Dad threw it out. It was the start of the rift between them. In the penultimate scene between father and son, the father reveals he still has the bowl and has treasured it through the years.

Needless to say, the bowl plays a significant part in the story. 

At the ceremony, I'm at the podium and begin reading one of the bowl scenes. Glaring at me from the page like vibrating neon mountains is the word bowel over and over and over again:

"What did he do with my bowel?"

"I worked hard on that bowel."

"It took me months to carve that bowel."

“Carving a sunrise on a bowel….”

It goes on. Needless to say, I froze and my face reddened. I made it through the ordeal by verbally correcting the word and fighting the urge to laugh at what I was actually reading; a discussion of an intricately carved bowel. The mental images alone were enough to have you on floor howling. I also fought the urge to cry because all the English professors in the room read about the bowel.

Unable to enjoy my accolades at the wine reception thinking of all the artistic directors out there reading about the intricately carved bowel; as soon as possible, I raced home and checked the rest of the script. I hoped against hope that it was only in one scene. No. Every single occurrence was spelled bowel; my only comfort being I was consistent. 

Wait--will they think I really meant bowel!

The word bowel is not spelled wrong, so spell check didn't catch it. Grammar check didn't catch it because bowl and bowel are both nouns. I used bowel correctly in every sentence. A story about a son who intricately carves a winter sunrise on a bowl for his father is one thing; a story about a son who does the same thing on a bowel is a different story completly. It leads to all sorts of questions. What kind of bowel was it? How was it obtained? How was it preserved? Can you carve on a bowel?

I will never know which play they read.

Ever since, I always print my scripts, let them set for a day and take them to another location and read them with a blue pencil in hand. I will never trust an automated editor.

The Bottom Line

You have to know your grammar. You have to know your punctuation. If you are not good at these, find out what you have to do to make yourself good and make that part of your process.

The next, "Getting it Write," post, will cover techniques for tackling this issue.

Please leave comments below or discuss the topic on g+

Busting the Blues: Tips for Writing Through the Bad Times

We all go through ups and downs in our lives that make it difficult to be creative--money, love, family, friends.  Here are some tricks that have helped me and others work through them.

Finish Something

Finishing something makes you feel good.  So, if you need a pick-me up, try a simple project that you can complete quickly.  I like to write villanelles, a form of poetry, because I find them challenging, fun and I can share them easily with my writer and non-writer friends.  It doesn’t need to be a poem, though.  It can be a small needle point, a puzzle, a drawing, a paint-by-numbers, a cake, a page in a color book; when I was a kid I had a small music box I liked to take part and put back together. 

Here are the qualifiers for this project:

• you know how to do it, but it’s not a cakewalk
• you like it, but don’t hold it dear
• you can show it to others and say, “Look what I did!”
• you can complete it without going to the store to purchase elaborate supplies

Let me explain further.  Most of my writing is dramatic or non-fiction prose and I write free verse poetry.  A villanelle is a wickedly difficult nineteen line poem with a strict rhyme scheme and entire lines are repeated at strict intervals, so I have to work at them.  When I finish one, I have real sense of accomplishment. The format lends itself to humor, so the finished product often makes people laugh;  an added bonus to dispersing the blues.  Since I know I how difficult it is to write a very good villanelle, I’m happy just finishing it and have no emotional investment beyond that.  All I need to do it is a pen, a piece of paper, and my wits.

Take a Karaoke Break

I discovered this one on accident.  When my day job became stressful and I couldn’t seem to think straight, a friend of mine dragged me to a Karaoke Bar.  I’d never Karaoked before and didn’t plan to sing.  Well, after I performed my fifth song, I noticed I felt lighter, happier.  And I found after that I could concentrate better; the ideas were flowing again and I had the energy to use them.

You may think this one should be, Try Something New, and this is also a good way to break out, but I did a little research on this and specifically Karaoke is good for you.  Studies show that moving rhythmically to musically, especially with others, releases the right chemistry in the brain to make you feel good.  Singing while moving rhythmical to music releases even more of the good chemicals.

I recommend a Karaoke place where you can stand and sing and have room to move; one with a stage is even better.  To really reap the benefits, do some sing-a-long songs like Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” or Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Pray.”  Invite a friend or total stranger to sing with you.

Walk Away

Taking a walk or run or doing some kind of physical activity can give you an extra boost.  If you are under deadline pressure, taking the time to do this may seem counter-productive, but it’s not.  Try it.  I have a great story to illustrate this, but it will make the blog post to long.  

Hit the Road

When I’m working on something complicated and my brain doesn’t want to focus, it only wants to think about my troubles, I’ll go on a road trip.  I’ll write in several different location.  In New York, I’d walk down Broadway and stop at various coffee shops.  Sometimes I stay for an hour, sometimes 15 minutes; depends on how long I stay engaged.  When the negative thought start sneaking under the door, I move.

Moving to new places gives you a feeling of progress.  It may start as a false feeling of progress, but can turn it real progress.  Something like feel it to make it real, I don’t know.   If things start to flow in a certain location, stay there.

Make a Plan, Stan, and Set Achievable Goals, Joels

I always feel calmer when I have a plan.  It can be a plan for finishing the project or a plan for making time to finish the project.  Keep the plan simple; don’t get carried away with how you make the plan--no spreadsheets or elaborate post-it systems.  It can be a simple list of actions or a simple schedule.

It’s important the plan be realistic and contain small achievable goals.  When you are down, it’s better to go a little easier on yourself so the goals can be achieved.  Saying, “I WILL write for two hours every morning, gash darn it!” when 30 minutes is more realistic; only sets you up for failure.  This will make you feel worse.  Ask yourself, “What can I do?”  Then set your goals slightly lower.

To be honest, making a plan has always helped me, but I’ve had little success with the goal setting part.  It’s a mental game I’ve never been good at playing, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.  You may have a different relationship with goals then I do.

Give Up

I hesitated including this one because it could be misunderstood and maybe unique to me, but it is one that helps me consistently.

Give up.  I mean really give.  Admit to yourself you can’t do the project.  Throw an all-out, paper-tearing fit on how you can’t do the project--scream, yell, throw the couch cushions.  As soon as I do this, ideas start to flow fast and furious and the way to tackle the project becomes clear.  

Please be careful with this one.  Don’t destroy anything you don’t have backed up in some way.  Don’t hurt yourself.

Dealing with the Feelings

Weather it’s finances, love, career or family; the stress in your life is caused by how you feel.  If you deal with those feelings, it may lessen the stress.  Even if you are not a writer, write what you’re feeling and why you’re feeling it.  Remember, no one needs to see it.

If the stress is caused by a person, write them a letter and tell them about it.  DO NOT SEND THE LETTER.  It will not make you feel better--I guarantee it.  In fact, it’s a good idea to do this type of writing with pen and paper and not on a computer.

Take the Medication

Many people who are drawn to creative fields suffer from some type of “mood disorder” as they call it these days.  Very often it is the one I suffer from where you go through high productive periods (manic) followed by low periods where can’t do anything and don’t care if you do or don’t (depressive).  They don’t like to call it manic/depressive anymore because of the many forms this condition can take.  In my case, the cycle is caused by a sleep disorder that changes my brain chemistry.  If I follow my prescribed sleep schedule, I’m fine.  For the doubters out there, what I’m talking about is not normal ups and downs.  The highs are euphoric accompanied by superhuman productivity; and they are just as disruptive to your creative process as the lows.  The lows are soul numbing and in some cases physically painful.  If you experience this cycle, I urge you to seek help from your doctor or therapist.

If you do have a “mood disorder” and are recommended medication, take the medication.  I have seen many people struggle with this because they are afraid the medication will take away their creativity.  It won’t.  What it does is allow you to eliminate the parts of the high and low that are chemical.  You will think more clearly because you’re not fighting the false anxiety that often manifests itself as cycling thoughts; a tell-tale sign of the disorder.  

Sure, you won’t have those super human bursts of mental energy where your brain seems to function at 2XLightspeed, but you will be able to work consistently to deadlines without putting yourself into a “state.”  You’ll find your creative powers are more readily engaged and stay engaged longer.  You’ll probably discover, as I did, that you don’t do your best work during those highs

I recommend that you find a psychopharmacologist or psychiatrist to work with you because they have the most experience with mood medications.  It has been my experience that regular doctors often prescribe doses that are too high increasing the side effects without the benefits.

If you have any questions or comments, you can leave them below, or on my Discussion Boards.

Where to Begin?

At the beginning.