I was going to entitled this post Writer’s Block, but decided it was too negative.  It happens. Today, I added to my work in progress and the words flowed, but this blog post dried up several times in my head, unwritten and the clock ticking.  Somebody told me to begin every day writing a few lines of poetry to get the creative juices flowing. Unfortunately, poetry often seizes up my brain, especially at that time of the morning. I should probably try flash fiction or those picture challenges.  Danger is, when I write a short story, I become wrapped in the characters and it gets longer and longer…. there again, my writer’s block has been cleared, just not where I needed it.

A wrecking ball approach is what I need. When the brain freezes, and the kitchen floor gets cleaned instead, I should try to suck something out of my head, because if I find that spark, the few words spoken by a character or a description of a scene, then I’m off again. That’s my best way to start – jump to another part of the story and write a dialogue. Whether I use it or not, I find dialogue shifts my block quicker than long sentences of prose. Perhaps because dialogue delivers tension or plot developments. I can rattle the words back and forth.

Doesn’t always work, I can go weeks distracting myself with other little tasks or telling myself there’s not point starting now, I’ve got to pick up the kids in half an hour – what can you write in half an hour?  Lots.  Truly. I take a pen and paper to my daughter’s swimming lesson and can scrawl (not write, let’s be honest, my handwriting can be illegible if I don’t transcribe it quickly) a few hundred words…. if I’m in the mood. See, at it again. I should stop procrastinating and swing that wrecking ball at my block and see what lies on the other side, because I sure it’s the fear of writing trash that keeps me blocked.

When it comes down to it. If the first draft doesn’t work out, I can edit it. Now that is one thing I suffer terribly from – editors block. Anyone know any cures for that!?