Writer’s Block

It’s November! Which means it’s NaNoWriNoMo – National November Write a Novel Month. I heard about this a couple of years ago while reading through some writing magazines I found in my local library. The idea is to have the first draft of a novel done by the end of the month. That means writing about 1500 words a day, which is about two pages type written. I write things out longhand, so for me that means about 10 pages a day or so. I plan to participate in NaNoWriNoMo this year for the first time, so I thought it appropriate to share some thoughts I have about writer’s block.

For most people, writer’s block is staring at a blank page with an equally blank mind. You sit down, you’ve got your computer up and running or you have pen and paper and you just go blank. It happens. My creative writing instructor in college told us about getting writer’s block while she was in college. She said her instructor told her to write a poem about it. Write a poem about having writer’s block? She thought he was nuts, but she decided to try it. It broke her writer’s block.

In fact, one of my favorite authors, J.A. Jance told a story about having writer’s block herself. It was a pretty bad spell of writer’s block, so she decided to call a college in her area to see about teaching there. When she explained that she was an author, the woman she was speaking with asked her what kind of books she wrote. She told them she wrote mysteries. The woman on the phone said, “Oh, we don’t hire your kind of author.”

End of J.A. Jance’s writer’s block.

For me, however, there are times when I have so many story ideas that sometimes I don’t know which one to work on. I’ll start one, then another idea will come along. I’ll make a note of it, but some part of me keeps thinking about the new story idea. Then I want to work on that one.

To make matters worse, every time I think I’m going to get to sit and work, something comes up. Lately, it’s been a lot of working to re-organize our house and hopefully create more space for ourselves in doing so. It’s also been that my retired roommate works during the early mornings when I’m trying to write. Even if he doesn’t knock on my door, I feel his presence. So, I get up and see what he wants.  I finally realized that the best solution was to do household stuff or miscellaneous things I need to get done in the morning, then do my writing in the afternoon. The only other solution is to go to my local coffee shop or library, but that’s not always practical. Although I do find that I get more work done when I’m at the library or coffee shop.

The last thing in my way was my extremely cluttered desks. Yes, desks, plural. I have a computer desk and an old fashioned roll top. I do my longhand writing on the roll top, which makes it easier to ignore the computer with all the internet temptations. It took me about two months to clear off both. So far, I’m keeping them cleared, which really helps.

Now if I could only decide what story to work on during “National November Write a Novel Month.”

Well, no one said the writer’s life was easy.