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I’d rather write than talk. Nobody interrupts! Posting monthly or less now--see below. |
My original purpose for this blog, which I started in August of 2019, was to see if I could maintain consistency, to discover what I want to write about, and to find my writing voice. In January, I started a "niche-less" blog at Wordpress.com where I've published weekly. -- Kit’s Kontemplations  . -- I'm preparing to start a Catholic blog on Wordpress.com where I'll post weekly, and another site to put the rest of my writing. I also want to spend more time reading other blogs and offering thoughtful comments, both here on WDC and elsewhere. At most, I will publish once a month at no set time in this blog starting in September of 2020. Thank you to those who have read and rated any posts on this blog. I really appreciate it. I did NOT want to write “about” me on this blog. I wanted to share my interests, discoveries and maybe a few useful insights. If anything I've written helps even one person, whether or not they respond to the post, then this blog has been successful. |
| When we’re learning a new skill, insecurity compels us to seek “expert” advice. From the abundance of free advice online there are three categories in which any one counsel or admonition will fall: 1. It is absolutely essential for everyone who expects to succeed to follow it 2. It is either extremely useful or seriously detrimental depending on various factors that the advisor has no clue about 3. It is offered by those with neither knowledge nor experience and therefore is universally useless. The advice: “Real writers write every day without exception” falls into the second category. I have mixed feelings about it. I can see the value in at least doing something related to writing daily. When I don’t write for a couple of days, I feel a loss of momentum and I struggle to get back to it. Yet, I find quite a few problems with this advice. Some insist that you write a certain number of words each day and others suggest writing for a specific amount of time. I would never give this advice to an aspiring writer. What counts as “writing”? Does it have to be completely new, a first draft of something? I have no specific project and no idea what I should write about most days. Does research or preparing an outline or editing a previous draft count? I’ve not seen any post advising daily writing that addresses these questions. My time is far too valuable to waste writing garbage just for the sake of meeting some arbitrary word count or time limit. I’d use my time more effectively by reading a book or blog post about writing or by working on an online writing or grammar course. Who gets to define a “real” writer? There’s no professional body that exists to accredit, license or discipline writers as there is for doctors. Therefore, in a sense, there is no such thing as “professional” writers. Is it an issue of being paid to write? If so, how much and how often must you be paid to qualify as a “real” writer? Do you have to quit your day job and support yourself solely on your income from writing? What about a writer who didn’t make enough to quit his day job until his novel was turned into a movie? Wasn’t he a writer before then? Becoming a Real Writer: What’s a Real Writer? Why does my creative process need to be defined by someone else? Depending on our obligations and life’s demands, there will be days where there is neither time nor energy to write and other days where we have both. A daily writing routine is challenging to maintain for some of us and impossible for others. Depending on our temperament and how we function, some of us can write in short bursts of 5 minutes here and there and others need a block of at least 20 minutes to settle into a creative inner space to get any writing done. Unless I’m particularly inspired, I need to be in a separate room and uninterrupted for at least 20-30 minutes. What’s the point in setting myself up to fail? If I resolve to write every day for 15 minutes or to write 200 words, I might do it for 2 weeks. Or it’s more likely that I’d only do it for two days. Then I’ll have “programmed” my brain to believe that writing every day is not useful. I may come to believe after multiple attempts that I should give up writing altogether. If you’re not a full time writer (like King and Lamott), this is terrible advice. This strategy will, in fact, reduce the probability that you finish your writing project. ... In my experience as a writer with a day job, I’ve found it’s crucial to avoid rigid writing schedules. I don’t want to provide my brain any examples of a strategy related to my writing that’s failing. ... The point is that I commit to plans that I know can succeed, and by doing so, I keep my brain’s motivation centers on board with the project. ... To leverage the psychology of your brain, you need to instead choose clear goals that you clearly know how to accomplish, and then approach scheduling with flexibility. Be aggressive, but remain grounded in the reality of your schedule. If your mind thinks you have a good goal and sees your short terms plans are working, it will keep you motivated toward completion. Cal NewportHow useful is it to force yourself to write every day? Obviously you may have to do this if you have a contract deadline to meet. This is highly unlikely for new aspiring writers. I’ve entered a few contests so I’ve written to a deadline but I don’t know if I’d want that kind of pressure on a regular basis. Once my confidence significantly increases, I may consider freelance writing. I likely would then have to write on more days than I do now and for more hours on those days. I still would not write every day. If I was able to get any freelance clients at all, I certainly wouldn’t wonder whether or not I was a “real” writer! Are you a “real writer? Hint: the answer is YES! You don’t have to write every day to be a “real” writer. You just have to write consistently. If you’re able to write every day, then do it. A mechanic is no less a mechanic by working three days a week. During this pandemic, he’s likely not working at all. I sure wouldn’t want to be the one to tell him he is no longer a mechanic! Writing is important to me but it is not the only thing in my life. It’s probably not the only thing in your life either. If you’re blogging in any serious ways, you’ve got plenty of writing-related tasks. Even without that, you have other things in your life that matter. On some days, these other things will matter more to you than writing. You’re still a “real” writer. Sources: {x-link:http://sevenscribes.com/writing-begins-with-forgiveness-why-one-of-the-most-common-pieces-of-writing-advice-is-wrong/}Writing Begins With Forgiveness: Why One of the Most Common Pieces of Writing Advice Is Wrong {x-link:https://www.well-storied.com/blog/is-a-daily-writing-routine-right-for-you}Is a Daily Writing Routine Right for You?{/x-lnk} “Write Every Day” is Bad Advice: Hacking the Psychology of Big Projects {x-link:https://nathanieltower.com/should-you-write-every-day-a-close-look-at-the-oldest-piece-of-writing-advice/}Should You Write Every Day? A Close Look at the Oldest Piece of Writing Advice |
| When I buy something new, I always read the instruction manual. I do it when the device is completely new. I do it when I’m replacing something I’ve used for decades. I read the manual that came with the last microwave I bought even though I got my first one in the early 1980s. Who knows what feature I might miss otherwise? So when I decided to return to writing after about 15 years away from it, I started looking for advice about how to do it effectively. Since I’d already realized that fiction is off the plate, this process would be less overwhelming. My first roadblock came with contradictory advice. I came across the concept of “morning pages” when I was looking for articles about increasing my creativity or removing any creative blocks. Doing them exactly the way that Julia Cameron dictates in The Artist’s Way simply did not appeal to me so I wanted to know if other people tweaked this tool to work for them. If I didn’t do this in exactly her way, would it be completely ineffective and a total misuse of my limited free time? Can I adapt it and have it still be somewhat helpful? Is the whole idea a bad fit for me and, therefore, not worth doing at all? I’ve found a lot of writing advice with some items contradicting other ones. At least one article suggested not looking for writing advice and spending that time writing. Yet, much of what I found is worth following. I’ll share about all of that in another post. Some of it is useful for others but it doesn’t work for me. Some of it is no good for anyone. The three “hazardous” suggestions were: writing with a full bladder, ignoring hunger and quitting your day job to be a “real” writer. If my bladder is full, my mind ceases to function, period. If I’m “in the flow”, I don’t notice hunger, but I wouldn’t ignore what my body needs. That’s not how I’d go about weight loss. Being retired, I no longer have a “day job”, but I’d never consider quitting it if I did so as to be a “real writer”. I already am a “real writer”. Still, I’d have taken a few days here and there to get an extra long weekend, giving me the opportunity to focus on writing if I had a deadline. Bad advice for all writers: Spelling and grammar checking software will solve all my writing problems. Spelling and grammar are not the whole of writing. There is syntax and sentence structure, not to mention the quality of the content itself. A spell-checker will not detect “too” when you meant to use “to” or “through” when you meant to use “though”. Nothing replaces the human editor who carefully examines the text and also reads it aloud so as to catch any awkward phrasing. Useful for other writers but not for me: “Challenge yourself to write something in a much shorter time than normal. “ I don’t find that applying speed helps any task to be done well, much less something creative. I understand the usefulness of shutting off the inner editor when writing a first draft so that you’re not fixing it up as you write it. I get around that by writing with pen and paper with no extra space between my lines. I’m never tempted to edit when I write this way because I know I’ll type it up in a day or two and edit as I’m doing that. I see the value in setting a timer and writing for the duration, but I do it in a slow and relaxed way. I only write at a quicker pace when my hand can barely keep up with my ideas. Although I can type faster than I can write, the ideas don’t flow through my keyboard as they do through my pen. The most common advice is to write every day. I wrote a detailed response to this in another post where I shared my personal experience with this and the result. I disagree with those who imply or say outright that you’re not a “real writer” if you don’t write every day. If it hinders you, takes you down the wrong path, f***s with (disputes) your creative process, causes more confusion than clarity, that’s bad advice. So when you’re sorting the good from the bad, go with your gut, and don’t let anyone bully you into their way of thinking, regardless of how credible, famous, or experienced they are. --How to Spot Bad Writing Advice: 6 Red Flags to Look For Reflection:  Do you look for advice when you’re trying something new or do you jump in and try your hand at it? Do you find yourself able to draw out the treasure from the trash in the advice your net scoops up? If not, why do you find this discernment difficult to do? What piece of writing advice do you most regret following and why?Sources How to Spot Bad Writing Advice: 6 Red Flags to Look For The Worst Writing Advice on the Web 11 Types of Bad Writing Advice {x-link:restraint exercised over one’s own impulses, emotions, or desires}HOW TO WRITE FASTER: 10 CRAFTY WAYS TO HIT 1,000 WORDS PER HOUR{/x-link} HOW TO WRITE ON PAPER FASTER & BETTER {x-link:https://becomeawritertoday.com/rollerball-vs-ballpoint-pens/}Rollerball vs Ballpoint Pens: A Guide{x-link} |
| If you get really lucky and succeed almost immediately at a new skill, project or venture, how much can you have learned in that process? Here are a few things this experience did not teach you: • How to accept the need to ask for help. • How to start over if you didn’t get the result you wanted • How to cope with and recover from initial, and possibly multiple, failures. • How to forgive yourself for mistakes, maintain your confidence and fix what did not work. • How to tune out negative messages from yourself or from others. • How to recognize and benefit from constructive feedback from experts or from mentors. • How to sift through contradictory advice from various sources. • How to know when you’ve done enough research then to follow your intuition to move forward. • How to avoid comparing your progress with others in your field who started at the same time as you did. • How to discipline yourself to take the next step when all you feel like doing is surfing social media, binge-watching Netflix or playing video games. Significant setbacks, minor disasters and/or progress that is much slower than you want or expect are all opportunities to grow and learn. They are not occasions for complaining, comparison or self-condemnation, behaviours that seem to be our default setting. In addition to signalling the need for reassessment, these challenges can push you to increase your knowledge and skills through courses, conferences and coaching. When you hit a small or large speed-bump, it is time to reflect and to develop clarity about the specific result you are seeking. Consider carefully why it matters and how important it is for your short-term goals and long-range plans. If you don’t have a clear vision of your destination and a sense of the milestones along the way, how will you recognize your progress or catch yourself chasing distractions because you’re afraid to miss out on something important? Slow progress provides the necessary time to develop skills through frequently and regularly repeating the same set of tasks while always considering ways to improve your processes. If you’re a marketer, it’s sales calls; if you’re an author, it’s writing, if you’re a blogger, it’s writing, image creation, and website management. It requires an acceptance of boredom, a tolerance for frustration and a willingness to tackle tedious tasks daily for years. An extended delay gives the seed of passion time to grow. When it takes a lot longer than we like to get the result that we want, our desire intensifies. The longer we must wait and the more it costs in time, energy and sacrifices of other things which we value, the more we’ll appreciate the success when it arrives. Reflection:  Are you currently enjoying success at something you’ve wanted and worked toward for a long time? What things or activities did you give up to make it happen? Are you working toward a dream now? Have you clearly defined in your mind what it will be like and why you want it? Have you written it all down? Have you given up on a dream after working at it for a while? Why did you decide that it either wasn’t worth the effort, or that you weren’t capable of making it happen? Were you afraid of failure, of success, or maybe, of both? |
If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. -- Maya Angelou There are more things in life that we complain about than things for which we express gratitude. That is not because more bad stuff happens than good stuff; rather, we naturally focus on the negative. It’s not so much because some people are optimists and others are pessimists. At the end of the day, I think all of us recall the negative stuff more readily and with greater clarity than the positive things. Could one reason for this tendency be that, in caveman days, threats and disasters made a bigger impact than finding a new food source or a better shelter? When life presents you with a challenging or painful situation, what’s your first reaction? If you have a more passive temperament, how uncomfortable do you need to be before you take some action to change the undesirable circumstances? If you’re a “take control” kind of person in this scenario, do you reflect and plan, or do you jump the fence without checking to see if there’s a bull in the field? My first reaction is to ask myself “how important is it?” Since I tend to be passive and patient, the problem or situation must be distressing and vexatious before I’ll take action. I rarely complain; it is unproductive, and creates negative energy in both myself and in my listener. When the situation is grave and will worsen if I don’t take action, I’ll consider carefully what the most effective strategy is. If I need help, I’ll ask for it. When I joined Overeaters Anonymous, I learned the Serenity Prayer. Having the serenity to accept what I couldn’t change wasn’t difficult for me. Having the courage to change what I could was more of a challenge. I still tend to rationalize not taking action, telling myself that nothing I did would have any impact on the situation. This made the third part of the Serenity Prayer a real challenge: having the wisdom to know the difference. There are some times when there is nothing that can be done about a situation, and other times when you have a few limited options. After doing what little is possible, the situation may still have a significantly negative impact on your life. In such a case, how can you change a negative attitude? I’m writing this near the end of April 2020. We’ve been cooped up at home with nowhere to go for two weeks with no end in sight. This is due to the self-isolation protocol directives from our local and federal governments because of the Covid-19 pandemic We can’t visit friends, we can’t go to coffee shops, and grocery shopping has become a significant ordeal. Many of us are working from home. Even more have been laid off. Some of us live alone and are more bored than we’ve been since taking history in high school. Others are at their wit’s end, keeping young children amused or are dealing with squabbles. “Challenging” doesn’t begin to describe this experience. What can you do to change your mindset, to practice mental self-care in really tough situations? Can you simply decide to think differently? Can you simply make a decision to exert your mind to seek reasons for which to be grateful while going through such times? I live with my husband and we are both retired. We do some things together each day; we play a game or watch movies while I knit or crochet. Aside from practicing gratitude at the start and end of each day, here are some things that are helping me: I maintain a routine and have a structure to my days. I don’t follow my daily plan exactly, but I have one. I engage in a spiritual practice for at least 30 minutes once or twice each day. I practice self-care by eating healthy and exercising. I aim to get to bed at the same time each night. I study each day by reading articles, listening to podcasts, and pursuing online courses. I enjoy either watching a movie or reading some fiction each day, sometimes both.Reflection How do you deal with a difficult situation once you get past your initial reaction?If you could go back and change something in your behaviour during your last trial, what would it be?How do you most often react to emotional discomfort? If you’re not satisfied with how you’ve handled it in the past, what would you like to do differently next time?Were you able to find something to be positive about or grateful for in your last difficult situation? What was it? |
| There is so much talk of being “spiritual” and not being “religious”, as if the two were mutually exclusive. Most people whom I know that speak this way have an aversion to religious practices, fixed belief systems and codes of behaviour. I wonder how many of these people have been wounded by “religious” people, by church authorities or by someone in their childhood who “represented” God to them. I believe that being spiritual means being connected to God in an intimate and personal way. To be a spiritual being is to experience and live out of a sense of connection with the presence of God. As a Christian, I have an inner awareness and conviction that Jesus lives in the center of my being. When I pray, I am being “present to Him”, choosing to spend some quality time with the One whom I know loves me. Being “spiritual” also involves having an awareness of and a connection with one’s own soul, not the false ego-self but the true self. For Christians, our soul was placed in us at the moment of our conception. Each of us was created by God to love Him eternally and to experience a daily loving union with Him through His gift of the Holy Spirit. The root of the word “religion” means to bind oneself to something. It is the tangible external expression of an intangible internal reality. Being religious does involve holding a specific set of beliefs about the nature of God. It includes engaging in specific activities and rituals to express love and allegiance to God. It is often a way to seek an experience of God’s presence, either alone or as part of a group. Religion lived apart from genuine interior spirituality is empty and often toxic. Many religions, both current and obsolete, have one or more practices with the goal of appeasing and or communicating with the supernatural powers in which they believe and from whom they seek protection and power. As a charismatic Catholic on a mystic path, I consider myself to be both religious and spiritual. The practices by which I express my devotion to Jesus are the evidence of my commitment to Him. These daily external practices include: attending Mass, prayerful Scripture meditation, spiritual reading, praying the Liturgy of the Hours and other forms of prayer. These activities neither earn nor increase His love for me. The more diligently I engage in these practices, the better prepared my soul is to more deeply experience the love He has had for me since before I was conceived. These practices bring me to a deeply quiet contemplative “space” and interior silence which is when God works deep transformation in me so as to conform my soul more closely to His original intention for me. It is comparable to being anesthetized before surgery. At times when this experience is less absorbing, it is like being in the car on a long trip with my husband where neither of us speaks and we deeply enjoy each other’s peaceful, loving presence. Reflection: What does “being spiritual” mean to you? What activities, if any, do you engage in regularly that you consider “spiritual” practices? What does “being religious” mean to you? If the word “religion” evokes negative emotions in you, what is their root? |
| You’ve just been given a writing assignment on a specific topic about which you know virtually nothing and about which you have even less interest. You have six weeks to write a 3,000-4,000 word article. The deadline is non-negotiable and the cost of not completing a quality piece of writing on time is totally unacceptable to you. In this situation, what is the first thing you would do when it’s time to work on it? Obviously there is research to be done and either a mind map or an outline to create before you can actually start writing the piece. Let’s say that you accurately estimate the time it would take to do all the steps including writing and editing. Taking into account everything else you have to get done, you have about two weeks of leeway time. You’ve written articles before but they were much shorter and you got to pick the topic. You’ve usually tackled your assignments as soon as possible and completed them well ahead of time because you hate feeling pressured. This time it’s different; you feel overwhelmed, anxious and insecure. The temptation to procrastinate seems almost beyond your ability to resist but the consequences are scarier than the assignment itself. [It looked like you were telling me to put the next sentence (Here are some options...} as a new paragraph so I put the sentence “How will you manage...” at the end of this paragraph. It didn’t make sense to leave it as a single-sentence paragraph. What do you think?] How will your manage your time on this? Here are two options: You get started right away.Starting with a brainstorm session on the topic, including all the unanswered questions, you then immediately get started on the research, writing and editing so that you’re finished about two weeks ahead of time. [I decided to put these first two bullet points together since they are really two parts of the same option.] You complete your brainstorm and do some research before putting the project aside for a few days to a week while you do unrelated things. Following this well-deserved break, you review your brainstorm, complete the research and draft an outline. At this point you take a few days break to clear and refresh your mind before writing the first draft. After letting the draft sit for a couple of days, you do what editing and re-writing necessary to complete the piece. You panic and procrastinate.Surrendering to insecurity, you binge on cookies, video games or Netflix, anything to distract yourself from the build-up of stress you’re experiencing. Every night, you promise yourself that you’ll start the next day, but you don’t. The pressure increases, the guilt for putting this off is like a lead soccer ball lodged in your chest and the anxiety becomes excruciating. Finally, you plunge in, pushing your limits further than ever before to pull this off. You complete it an hour before the deadline. You’re exhausted, angry at yourself, and maybe even physically sick. You’re so disappointed in yourself because you know what you’ve written is nowhere near the quality that you’re capable of. You desperately hope the quality is sufficient to avert disaster. All procrastination is delay, but not all delay is procrastination. —Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. Procrastination As A Virtue For Creativity, Why It’s False The first option includes a couple of “strategic” or “planned” delays but they don’t fit the definition of procrastination. The result would be a quality piece of writing produced with only a healthy level of stress. You know what you ought to do and you’re not able to bring yourself to do it. It’s that gap between intention and action.”—Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. How to Stop Procrastinating: 4 Tips to Help You Focus on Your Work There are things we know we should do or which we must do, but we either delay them or don’t do them at all. When it comes to something creative, perfection is usually what drives us to play video games, binge on Netflix or hang out on Facebook or Instagram for hours on end. Then we castigate ourselves for not doing any work and worry about how little time is left to do it. If it’s not perfection, maybe we just feel inadequate or ill-equipped to complete it. Asking for help is not lame or pathetic. It does take a pinch or maybe a bucketload of humility. Some things on our mental or written to-do list are much more important than others. It is our action, or our refusal to act that says how worthwhile any task really is. We make time for what really matters. The problem is that what will benefit us the most is not what we give the most weight and importance to by acting promptly. “The future self becomes the beast of burden for procrastination,” says Sirois. “We’re trying to regulate our current mood and thinking our future self will be in a better state. [It is “they” in the quote.] They’ll be better able to handle feelings of insecurity or frustration with the task. That somehow we’ll develop these miraculous coping skills to deal with these emotions that we just can’t deal with right now.” An Open Letter to My Fellow Procrastinators In the second option, the cost of not getting the really important task done sooner rather than later doesn’t make the necessary impact on us. This is usually because we feel virtually no connection to our “future self” who is going to suffer a lot by not working on it until it’s almost too late to get it completed, and definitely too late to get it done well. In this scenario, your “present self” at the time you receive the assignment feels little connection with your intensely stressed and suffering “future self” five weeks later. Katrin Klingsieck of the University of Paderborn in Germany suggests that there is a difference between procrastinating and what she calls “strategic delay.” In both cases, you can make a choice to put off completing an important task but, for procrastinators, the delay is usually unnecessary and irrational (not to mention harmful at times). For procrastinators, however, it often means knowing that delaying an important task has negative consequences but still putting it off despite intense feelings of guilt and anxiety Reflection: Have you used either of the first two options above when faced with a large and important creative assignment? Were you satisfied with the result? Have you had a bad experience with procrastination? What did it cost you? What things are you most likely to put off doing? What do these things have in common, if anything?Sources — How to Stop Procrastinating: 4 Tips to Help You Focus on Your Work — Getting around procrastination — Procrastination Pros and Cons — Procrastination As A Virtue For Creativity, Why It’s False Monique from Ottawa, Canada No matter what, WRITE! |
| We want things we don’t need and we need things we don’t want. —Unknown This takes me back to childhood. I wanted candy, lots of it and as often as I could get it. I wanted to be left alone to read. If I had a choice, that’s all I would ever have done. The people in books might have been mean to each other at times but never to me. According to my mother, I needed to eat cooked spinach, to get blood tests every 6 months and to play outside. I didn’t want any of these things. I’d rather be sent to bed early than eat the spinach. I much preferred reading on my bed than being around other children. My aversion to blood tests needs no explanation. Now that I’m an adult, I no longer need the frequent blood tests. I eat my spinach raw; it’s healthier that way. Indoor activities beat outdoor ones; there are no bugs and no dogs. I was in my late thirties before I paid much attention to self-care beyond the absolute necessities - things like regular dental visits, which hurt both my mouth and my wallet. Now I floss a whole lot more regularly than I used to. My first serious venture into regular exercise was when I bought a recumbent bike so I could read and pedal at the same time. I have a treadmill now, and walk while I listen to podcasts and audiobooks. Meeting my needs hasn’t always been an unpleasant thing. I had become “activity-addicted” and I believed that my worth depended on doing as much as possible each day and doing each thing perfectly. I didn’t recognize my valid needs for regular rest and leisure. Once this became obvious because of a near-breakdown, I still didn’t want to stop and do “fun” things. I didn’t even know what I would enjoy doing besides reading novels. I didn’t want to start reading them because I was afraid I’d not be able to stop. Nothing would get done and my life would be in chaos. Fast-forward a couple of decades. I have learned to want the things I truly need and to be detached from things that were appealing but not necessary. This is especially true when it comes to food. Certain foods are very appealing and I am strongly drawn to them. I choose to not eat the “bad” food, especially sweets. I know the cravings these foods generate and I’d rather not have to battle them. The exquisite taste that lasts for a moment isn’t worth the inevitable struggle. Reflection: What are some things you long for? Which of these do you not need or which you’d be better off not getting? What is the most important thing that you need to do that you procrastinate dealing with? |
| To solve any problem, the nature of the problem, including what led to its development, must be clearly understood. To determine the remedy for any condition, its symptoms and history must be clearly known. Though some believe there is no such thing as “writer’s block”, and others may call it by some other name, it seems to be a very rare writer, amateur or professional, who hasn’t been in some way stalled or stifled at some point — and probably more than once. It was my own experience of this that led me to research this topic to help myself and hopefully others. In the many articles I found, there were a few ideas that appeared far more often than others. These include: Perfectionism, fear of rejection or failure, unrealistic expectations and self-criticismThis one did not apply to me, at least not this last time I felt blocked. I don’t write for clients and I have no specific goals or aspirations for where my writing will take me. I’m still new enough at this that I write because my nature demands that I write. I write a draft then get a friend to review it with her very perceptive editor’s eyes. If others like what I write, and if they are inspired or amused by it, then I’m happy. If they don’t like it and can tell me what they think is missing or can be improved, that’s even better. I just re-wrote a piece from scratch because of some very helpful feedback. Fatigue, burnout, physical problemsThis happened to me recently and it took me by surprise. I’m retired and have few commitments that would wear me out. I discovered I have what I’ll call an “information addiction”. I seem to need to have my mind always full of something. I’m either reading or listening to something informative. Even when I went to bed, my mind would not rest so I’d listen to something using an app with a monotone voice. I’d eventually fall asleep to it. The problem was I didn’t stay asleep so I’d turn the thing on again and take up where I left off. It took a few months but I found myself mentally exhausted, along with other effects that come with sleep deprivation. I didn’t want to do anything that required even the slightest mental exertion. Overwhelm, information overload, fear of not having anything worthwhile to sayHaving too many isolated random ideas to write about can be an even bigger contribution to writer’s block than feeling like there is nothing in you to write about. These ideas spin around in your mind like baby carrots in a veggie chopper, leaving tiny uniform bits with no binding force. You can’t combine any of these bits together because you have no idea where to start. Which ones do you pick up to brainstorm on, start an outline from, or mind map with? Just looking at these ideas reaching for you like a crowd of ravenous, adoring fans, makes you want to flee and bury yourself in your favourite video game, in a novel or to binge on either Netflix, chocolate or both. Maybe you can prevent the information overload, but it’s one of the perils of research for your posts. So what do you do when you’ve fallen out of the boat into the swamp and the quicksand is tugging you down? At this point, I feel like I’ve managed to pull myself back into the boat. I’ve done a mind map of causes and cures. I have a plan for the next post about the most common tips to overcome the block. After that, I’ll comb through the articles I’ve saved to Instapaper to list tools that were mentioned which I had never heard of. Blogging means learning, and I love to learn! |
| Is “writer’s block” a real problem? Most of the posts I’ve come across acknowledge it and have experienced it. Some of the authors outlined various causes, some authors suggest cures and yet others provide interesting lists of ways to generate new ideas. While researching this article, I came across a few posts claiming that “writer’s block” was nothing more than an excuse for a lack of discipline. That seems harsh when you consider that some well-known authors such as Leo Tolstoy and Ernest Hemmingway suffered temporary lapses in their ability to write. I’ve been maintaining a blog on writing.com since August 2019 and another on Wordpress.com since January 2020. A few weeks ago I found myself unable to think of anything to write. Even before I started researching this article, I listened to my intuition and paid attention to my body. I had been going to bed very late and spent every spare minute either reading or listening to podcasts. I had exhausted myself both mentally and physically. In addition to getting to bed earlier and taking naps daily for about a week, I stopped reading non-fiction and listening to podcasts. I did a brain dump and started colouring on my iPad. It made a huge difference. Here are a few ways I’ve seen writer’s block defined: - Writer’s block is a condition in which a writer is unable to think of what should be written next. —Mental Health Daily - Writer’s block occurs when a writer cannot write at all, when they work at a much slower pace than is usual for them or when they find it difficult and exhausting to write. —Dudley Court Press - Writer’s block is the state of mind whereby a writer loses the capacity to put words on paper. —The Latino Author.com It’s important to have a strong balance in your life, so writing doesn’t consume all of it. —Stephen King Although the physical rest and mental relaxation helped me to write again, I still felt stuck a week later, but for other reasons. Because the reasons were different, the remedy also needed to be different. Writer’s block is a significant problem. It has causes and there are cures. The cures most likely to be effective depend on the situation or the combination of factors that led to the block. Therefore the path to the remedy is self-awareness. Self-knowledge is critical. You can read 100 or more tips to cure writer’s block and the information overload could be more of a hindrance than a help. I read quite a few posts that gave lists of “cures”. I think I would have been further ahead to stop reading when I saw a suggestion that my intuition indicated would help. Sources — 5 main causes of writer’s block and how to fix them — Five reasons you’re experiencing writer’s block — Writer’s Block: Causes, Symptoms, & Cures (Overcoming It) — The Most Common Causes of Writer’s Block — What Causes Writers Block |
| When I returned to writing after decades away from it, I started searching for tips since I didn’t know where to start. Several articles about writing suggested blogging as a way to improve your writing skills, not to mention your discipline. I had no doubts about the kind of blog I wanted. To say that I was disappointed in what I found online about blogging is a huge understatement. I did this exercise a year ago and then again this past week. Nothing’s changed. Commercial and narrow “niche” blogging own the universe. Have you noticed how few articles there are that talk about blogging for the pure enjoyment of it, or even simply as a tool to improve your writing? Maybe there’s one in a hundred. When I researched this a year ago, it seemed more like there were maybe one in a thousand. It was like trying to find a frog at the base of Niagara Falls! When I googled “amateur blogging”, you’d think I’d entered a profane phrase in the search engine. All the hits were about the mistakes to avoid so as to NOT look like an amateur blogger. When I googled “blogging for fun”, the result was marginally better. I got plenty of hits for “blogging for fun AND profit”. For crying out loud, why does it always have to be about the money! There are ads on my blog posts because Wordpress.com puts them there. This happens on a free site. If I decide to pay for a site, it will be to remove all ads to make my blog a more pleasurable and less distracting experience for my readers, not to put other annoying ads to make money. Why does success have to equal income? Can’t “success” be to enjoy the process, to get the occasional comment and to gain a few followers? It is for me and maybe it is for other bloggers too, just not the ones I came across in my google searches. Once the money motive enters the front door, sooner or later, enjoyment slinks out the back door. I crochet squares to make blankets for charity. If I was selling them, it would become a chore very quickly and perfectionism would tyrannize me. I’m breaking so many rules of blogging, I don’t have a prayer of getting monetary gain from it and I’m OK with that. I don’t want to be bothered with hosting, domain names, SEO, and other technical headaches. I don’t want to bother with images for each post or even with having an image of myself. I just want to write what strikes my interest, and not to be hemmed in by a niche. Reflection Why did you start blogging? Have you, as a blogger, departed from conventional blogging wisdom? If so, which “rules” have you broken? What are your criteria for a “successful blog” |
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Yes, I know some people do that but I'm a creative writer not a journalist. Poetry sells ... but it's a money-maker for only a few. I write A LOT. Almost 180 pieces since Spring equinox. My goal is 300-400 per year. One year I went over 1,000. I need to do more editing, polishing, sharing, submitting. Writer's block? Who has time for that? I don't.