This year, I am entering my creative writing course at university, which will hopefully give me the tools needed to turn writing into a career. To prepare, I decided to revisit my semi-abandoned WIP. I have about twelve pages of it written, which is farther than any other WIP I've started. (If you don't count my NaNoWriMo book, which was just a disaster.) I hadn't really touched my WIP since May, and when I tried to start continuing it now, I just couldn't. I wasn't inspired by it anymore.
I guess you could say I have writer's block. This WIP which was so vivid in my head about a year ago, has now turned into absolute mush. I have no idea where I want it to go, and I can't even bring myself to keep writing it. I've been feeling so uninspired recently that none of my ideas, if I even have any, seem good or groundbreaking enough.
I've been feeling this with my blog as well. Book reviews are pretty much the easiest things to write because I have a vehicle provided to me to go off from. But a book blog is not built on book reviews alone, and I literally don't know what else to post about anymore. Every time I think something will work and begin writing, it derails and I scrap it. I care very much about what people think when they read my posts, and I quite frankly am not proud of anything original that I've been writing.
I know that there are writing prompts all over the Internet to help with these kind of things, but nothing seems to be working. I feel like when I take somebody else's prompt, the idea is not mine. But the problem is, that I cannot come up with my own ideas!
It doesn't help that there are so many amazing books out there being published, that I don't want my idea to be a "been there, done that." I'm at the point where if I read a really good book, I say to myself,"why didn't I think of that?"
I'm appealing to the book and writing community. What do you do when you have writer's block? Do you sometimes struggle with being "original enough" in the blogging community?
Emily @ Paperback Princess
OK, Em, first - it's ok! Rome wasn't built in a day, and good things take time and a buttload of mistakes ;)
ReplyDeleteSecondly, get a piece of scrap paper, or a word document if you prefer typing, and try to write a post or whatever it is you want to write. Let it be cr*p. If it is, no-one has to see it! (You have NO IDEA how often I delete blog drafts and write about a different topic entirely! And thank God for that. Some of those posts are just bad!)
Also, and I say this honestly, write the words 'I'm having trouble writing this post,' or, 'I'm not sure how to start this,' or 'I'm not sure I know what I just said,' - put the truth out there on the paper, screen, whatever, and delete it later if it doesn't fit in. (Sometimes I leave mine in - I'm sure you've seen them.) If it doesn't work for you, then fine, but I find that it frees you up to just give it your best shot, without worrying too much about things being perfect! ;)
Also, permission to use this as this week's Nerd Church topic (I'll link back to you, obv.)? Because I could clearly ramble on for days on this! ;)
Thanks for the tips, Cee :) I never finish writing posts if I think they're being derailed, so that is actually a great tip! I think it will be good for me to just finish a post that I'm interested in, and then decide where to go from there. I also think that those statements in my posts could really help. Sometimes I feel like I need to be honest with my readers and clear things up. You can absolutely use this as the Nerd Church topic! Glad you find the need to talk about this more. Your post from last Sunday inspired me even more :)
DeleteGlad to be of help! :)
DeleteAnd yay! I'll get that written! :)
I've lived by a rule ever since I first started writing stories/blog posts/poems- you name it. Here it is: Write what you LOVE, what you want to- that does not mean that you shouldn't listen when someone gives you tips and advice or says you need to fix something in it.
ReplyDeleteBut if you write something you enjoy writing about and discovering through your writing- writer's block will only be a temporary stopping point!
I think I need to listen to that rule more often. I feel like I never give my ideas a chance. The moment I accept my ideas and just start writing I think this will all go away. Thanks you for the advice!
DeleteI can't give any good advice since I am in the same boat as you. I haven't been able to write either.
ReplyDeleteFollow Cee's advice. Just write and delete later. Easier said than done huh?
Good luck!
Dinh@Arlene's Book Club
It is encouraging in a way to hear that there are other fellow bloggers going through the same thing! Here’s hoping we both get through this :)
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