{"id":2183,"date":"2020-06-04T23:49:15","date_gmt":"2020-06-05T06:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shescribe.com\/?p=2183"},"modified":"2020-06-04T23:49:18","modified_gmt":"2020-06-05T06:49:18","slug":"confronting-writers-block","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shirscribe.com\/index.php\/2020\/06\/04\/confronting-writers-block\/","title":{"rendered":"Confronting Writer\u2019s Block"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I sit down to write. I know exactly what I want to say. I just don\u2019t know how to say it. I\u2019m afraid to say it, because nothing that I say ever seems good enough. Nothing that comes to mind is moving me, is artsy enough to pass the inspection of my discerning eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then the subject I want to write about is painful. It\u2019s upsetting. And so instead of pressing through the pain and those fucked up first drafts, I just don\u2019t write at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is how I experience writer\u2019s block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You would think that by now \u2013 since I\u2019ve been writing for over 30 years \u2013 it would go away. I most certainly did. I thought that by now I would have a handle on this thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s funny because I have evolved. There was a time when I didn\u2019t think I was such a good writer but I just kept writing because it keeps tugging at me. But with time and \u2013 I\u2019m not going to lie \u2013 compliments  from others, I grew to think, \u201cHey, maybe I\u2019m not so bad at this thing.\u201d Yet I can\u2019t think of a time when I\u2019ve sat down to write and the words just came to me\u2026except when I write fiction. When I write fiction, that happens sometimes. But when I\u2019m trying to write essays it\u2019s hard AF. It\u2019s almost like I have to excavate each sentence from my mind like I\u2019m on a dig at some archaeological site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, I\u2019m trying to write a pitch that I first told you about here<\/a>. It\u2019s almost a month later and I\u2019m still trying to knock it out, and by knock it out I just mean I\u2019ve been letting it bug the shit out of me \u00a0— a bunch of ruminations, few sentences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes I\u2019ll get inspiration at the weirdest times, like when I\u2019m in the car, or those times early in the morning when I awake, but still not ready to let go of sleep. I try to repeat the idea, the structure in my head, but I forget it. Then I sit down to write trying to recall it, but nothing acceptable comes to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So now what I think I\u2019m going to have to do is give myself permission to let the first draft be shit. I just need to get it out and then I can improve upon it later. I heard that as advice somewhere before, I don\u2019t know where, but I believe it\u2019s true. Just writing this makes me feel better. I don\u2019t know why I want to lock myself in the prison of wanting to get it right on the first try all the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m just going to create an outline, or maybe a checklist of things that I want to include, what I want to say, and then just write something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m going to take down this wall of stagnation, one writer\u2019s block at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I sit down to write. I know exactly what I want to say. I just don\u2019t know how to say it. I\u2019m afraid to say it, because nothing that I say ever seems good enough. Nothing that comes to mind…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[73,72,74,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-2183","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-career-and-goals","7":"category-on-my-mind","8":"tag-feeling-not-good-enough","9":"tag-pitching-stories","10":"tag-pursuing-goals","11":"tag-writing","12":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nConfronting Writer\u2019s Block - Shirscribe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Writer's block is never fun. 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