I'm a writer, and I'm sure some of you in this forum write for pleasure or perhaps as a profession. So my question is this: When you're hung up on a story, or you don't have time or energy, how do you keep going? How do you keep in the writing mindset?

When I'm writing and enjoying myself, I have no problem sticking with it. The words come easily, the revisions aren't too frustrating, and the finished products are satisfying. But when the ideas run out, or I get stuck on a story, I'm quick to drop it for a day. Then a week. Soon, my vacation (or maybe stagnation?) from the craft turns into several months.

I've read various books on writing, including Ray's "Zen in the Art of Writing," and love most of the things he and others say. It seems one unanimous bit of advice is: read and write every single day.

All that reading and writing takes time. Lots of time. My only obligation is a full-time job; apart from that, my schedule is almost entirely open, and it's still difficult to set aside enough time. I can't imagine trying to write with familial duties or any kind of social life!

I want to write because I have ideas and emotions and dreams that warrant sharing. I want to write because it's therapeutic, because it's a gratifying practice, because it's exhilarating and wonderful. Writing is my only outlet for all the stuff inside me, and I don't know what will happen if it stays in there.

I'm fortunate enough, for now, to be on the upswing, where I write and read all the time. But if I keep stopping, one of these days I won't pick it up again.

Please share your ideas!

rm-r

Sorry for a lengthy reply here... but bear with me...

Not necessarily writing, but burning out of ideas can hit any profession or hobby or job.

A bunch of years ago, I published a small newspaper on outer space, with the ostentatious title of '"Interplanetary New Paper Witness'". I did all the writing except for one article, got the pictures, did all the page design and typesetting. And I was using one of those old machines where you have to type everything twice. The second typing thereby adjusted itself into neat columns. All this was what I might call a pleasant side effect off a job I was working, in printing. I actually went so far as to rent an abandoned dentist office above the print shop, and when my gears were running as fast as the machines I was working on, I ran upstairs and scribbled down a few words, or came up with a half idea at least. Or after work, worked late into the evening, driven by supercharged ambition.

This went on for about 2 years, and I was able to put together and publish 3 issues. That may not seem a lot, but it was quite a project. I did not run out of ideas or energy until I tried the 4th issue. I didn't exactly run out of energy at the time. More like direction and focus. It took moving out of the city and a lot of adjusting.

Lately, I tried to start a neighborhood newspaper/magazine style publication. Had big ideas. BIG!! Actually mapped out a complete 40 page edition, with most all of the stories sketched out and in need of writing, etc etc. Had a list of advertisers to talk to. (Need to get enough advertisers to pay the printing bill, you know.)

But...
...I ran out of gasoline!
Spiritual gasoline.
Stopped.
Plunked down in the middle of the road.

So...I've picked up my music again...keyboard... and been trying to get excited about creative painting again. Of course, you still have to make a living, and I still work in the printing field.

So my advice when you hit writer's block? I'll go with Bradbury on that one! He said, in so many words, "...you simply ran out of ideas and don't try forcing it." That's why he talks about the importance of falling in love with things, reading, art, whatever it is. The passion that develops if it is even gardening, or learning woodwork, or capturing the fire of working in the law field and defending the defenseless, carries you along the thing you 'love' to do.

As a Christian, when my old self comes knocking, and I try to answer the door, everything is shot! Slam bang. Finished. Done! Everything flies out the window. And if you're not smart, you'll turn to anything to get the boat roaring again. More than half the world seems to be sliding that way. When I come to an utter end of all my ambitions and all my energy, and that relation with Christ that has been developing thru the years kicks in, when the rubber meets the road...I then see hope, and promise, where someone else would see even more doom.

These people that churn out all those words, like a Stephen King, or even a Bradbury, or for another time, a Charles Dickens...need to be studied by scientists. They are an embodied miracle happening under the guise of a prodigiously talented writer..

(Have you read '''Zen and the Art of Writing''', by Ray Bradbury?)
Ray said '''Zen''' has nothing to do with it, but that he put the word in the title to attract attention.
It's a 'great read' !


[This message has been edited by Nard Kordell (edited 07-11-2004).]

Rm-r,

No time to write? You have as much time to write as all of the great writers. Somehow they managed to find the seat-time. You can do the same.

How 'bout this? Get up an hour earlier than you usually do, every day. Get your writing done then. No reading, no 'net. Just straight writing.

Another useful tip: set daily word/page goals. Make an ironclad pact with yourself that you won't get up from your chair until your goal is reached. In fact, that makes your hour more productive: You'll have an incentive to get your writing done and use what's left of the hour for pleasure.

Don't wait for inspiration to hit. Bradbury says to jump off the cliff and build your wings as you fall.

Take a look at what you consider to be your most insprired writing and your most drudgery-filled writing. I suspect there'll be little difference. So forget about inspiration. A writer writes. Everyone else talks about it. (Actually, a writer re-writes. Bradbury also says to write with heat but revise coolly. That's where you'll make the difference.)

Hope this helps.

Now, go write.

Best,

Pete

How the heck did they do by hand with quills and steel pens what I struggle to do on a word processor?

Not to mention Jane Austen was dead by the time she was my age and many others did not live much longer.

[This message has been edited by dandelion (edited 07-11-2004).]

When I'm working on something I try to do at least 1,500 words per diem. If you wait for inspiration you can easily wait forever! It helps to have a taste for words, you have to really wallow in them.
I used to abhor the editing phase, but now I enjoy it as much as writing the first draft.
I usually write in the morning. Afternoons are reserved for excursions, playing music, whatever.
Writing in longhand can be fun! Ramsey Campbell writes the first draft in an exercise book, then revises using the ol' pc. Like most writers I'm never without a notebook.

Gothic:

I like that...

...in your afternoons, your out doing excursions, playing music. etc.

You are doing something.

I've gotten to the point, and know of a few others, who push it all the way to the point where they are looking out the window for nearly ever, waiting for that forever elusive brainstorm to hit. Action in another direction helps greatly in bringing in those 'jack rabbits' that Ray likes to talk about, jack -rabbit- ideas ready to be bagged...

Any kind of writing will help you improve your skills for any other kind of writing. Improving your writing skills on any front will lead to an increase in your confidence and enthusiasm for writing on any other front.

Being a poet made me a better technical writer. Becoming a technical writer made me a better poet. Both made it easier to dabble at novel writing. The hardest thing to do with writing a novel is to refrain from trying to bite off more than you can chew, but every time I come up with one more-or-less finished scene or chapter, I can look forward with enthusiasm to the moment when the idea for the next scene hits.

Alan Watts' book of nonsense verse may have been some of the worst nonsense verse ever written, and it's only due to name recognition that it ever got published, but I'd bet anything it helped stir up his creative juices for his main projects.

A good point. When you get to study a writer's life and writing habits more closely you always come up with tons and tons of unclassifiable and unexpected material. Would you believe that H.P. Lovecraft (whose work I've studied extensively) tried his hand at commercial blurbs and cigarette ads?

Thanks to all for the insightful replies.

Nard:: Yes, I've read "Zen in the Art of Writing." In fact, I started re-reading it just a few days ago. That book has always given me a boost when my writing is sluggish.

I guess I was hoping one of you had a secret, some magical way of becoming a writer. But, once again, the "just keep writing, no matter what" mantra has popped up. Sounds like everybody is correct - the only way to become a writer is to, erm, write!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with my word processor.