I Can’t Get Started. I Can’t Continue. I Can’t Finish.

Occasionally, the words won’t come. Not because there’s nothing I want to write about, but because there’s too much. I have lists of topics I intend to use to engage my readers here on the blog, for example. But sometimes I find myself overwhelmed by the sheer variety of things that interest me. What doesn’t help is  that I’ve suffered from ME for the past ten years; one of the features of this debilitating condition is its effect on the brain, causing perceptual and short-term memory problems. It’s largely a neurological condition, distorting the control function of the hypothalamus. I thought I’d defeated it until a couple of weeks ago, when it returned with a vengeance. Took me a while to figure out that I’d been neglecting to take my regular rests after activity. So, it appears, I’m likely to have to deal with this for the rest of my life. I mean, if it hasn’t gone after ten years, it seems unlikely it will completely disappear.

I find that time spent on holiday in sunny climes has a fantastically beneficial effect on my health. I asked the doctor if I could go and live in the Mediterranean on the National Health Service, but she thought it unlikely! Still, my next sortie overseas will probably have a positive effect and I should return more energised, I hope. Roll on the hols, eh?

But, enough of my personal problems.

I know that a lot of writers experience difficulty in starting to write, others have problems continuing and many have difficulty with actually finishing a piece. There are probably as many reasons for these problems as there are writers, so I’m not about to start pontificating on what you should do and how you should deal with your problem, whatever it is. For one thing, I rarely have these issues, so I have little first hand experience. 

(At present, my own problem is that the ME is preventing me writing as smoothly as I do normally because it keeps misdirecting my fingers on the keyboard so that I have to correct a typo for every few words I’m typing - bit of a bugger, but hardly a serious issue.)

What I can do for those of you who have problems with starting, continuing or finishing is point you in possible directions where you just might come across a ‘cure’ it that’s not too strong a word for it.

First, two books that I consider absolutely essential to any writer:

Dorothea Brande’s Becoming a Writer ; this is essentially a guide to the way you should set about becoming a writer. It consists of advice and exercises. The exercises are an essential part of the process. I strongly urge anyone who suffers from any form of writer’s block, at any stage in their writing career, to read this book and do the exercises. They really are life-changing. But you must be prepared to put in the work. It certainly worked for me. I now see I’ve never reviewed this book, an omission I will correct very soon!

 

Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way ; subtitled,  A Course in Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self , is a manual for finding the creative drives in your life. Again, there are exercises and, again, I urge that readers who wish to fully engage with their writing do these exercises.

I reviewed this book a while back and you can read that review here: http://stuartaken.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-artists-way-by-julia-cameron.html#.UFGr9I0iaSo  

And, finally, for this piece, a few words of suggestions that might help you over those barriers.

Can’t get started?

Try simply writing down anything and everything that comes to you as you sit in front of that piece of blank paper or white screen. Literally everything. So, if your thoughts are, ‘I can’t think of anything…’ write it down. Often, the simple fact of having words on the blank sheet will unlock the gate and allow others to flood out. At this stage, it’s best not to review your writing but allow the flow to continue until you reach the end. You can always edit afterwards, and it might just get those creative juices flowing.

Can’t continue?

Try writing something else, something completely different from the story or book that’s causing the struggle. If the worst comes to the worst, copy something from another piece and develop that instead. The subconscious mind sometimes needs this sort of trick to kick it back into the groove you were previously ploughing (if you’ll forgive the tortured metaphor).

Can’t finish?

As with the first suggestion, just write whatever comes into your head, with no concern for errors, content or grammar. Sometimes we get obsessed by our need to get it right and this simply prevents us from getting it down. I repeat, you can always edit later. The creating and editing processes involve different parts of the brain and these two aspects of our make-up are often in conflict. By trying to edit as you go along, you’re actually denying your creative self the freedom it needs to work imaginatively.

Try it. What have you to lose? Don’t tell me it’s a waste of time: you were already wasting time sitting unproductively in front of that blank screen/sheet of paper, weren’t you?

Good luck with your writing, folks, and let me have your thoughts in the form of comments.

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Writer’s Block; What’s That?

Cover via Amazon

The following piece was written in a single session, using techniques taken from Dorothea Brande’s Becoming a Writer and Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. The modern tendency toward scepticism will prevent many believing that I present this piece exactly as it was first written. Nevertheless, that’s the case. I haven’t edited the piece in any way. It remains precisely as it came from the ends of my fingers. I don’t present this to illustrate anything other than the assertion that it’s possible to sit down in front of a blank piece of paper with no idea what you want to write and come up with something that is, at least, a basis for some better, more polished and edited piece. It was started to get my own creative juices going. That it turned into this illustration is a combination of good fortune and my determination not to allow the inner policeman to place barriers in my way whilst creating.

I have subsequently read through the piece, but I’ve made no alterations at all. None. If you have ever suffered from any form of writer’s block, I urge you to read on. It shows, demonstrates, the reality of the process of enabling your inner artist. Oh, and by the way, I note that at one stage it says it took about twenty minutes. That was a guestimate, written at that point in the piece. It actually took forty six minutes in total. I know this because I’m currently keeping a time chart of my activities so I know how I really spend my time.

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Sometimes it’s necessary simply to place words on paper, with no knowledge of where they will take you. Being blocked, lacking ideas, is often no more than a failure to be brave. That blank page can become a barrier. Filling it with words, no matter what they say, can break that barrier and set off the writer on a journey of adventure, romance, fantasy, or whatever direction the subconscious decides to take you.

The point is not to be afraid, not to allow the unknown to govern your creativity. Allow that inner creative voice its head, give it freedom. Ignore all the rules and laws and advice about sentence structure, planning and genre. This is a way to free your spirit and allow the creative artist inside you to soar.

Sometimes, faced with such a blank space, you will indulge in utter rubbish for a while. The words will mean nothing, even when you look at them later, and especially as you place them in lines on the page. But that isn’t important. The very act of writing results in more writing. If you’re a writer, if you’re an artist, a creator, the ideas will eventually come to you. They’ll sneak up when you’re not looking and suddenly you’ll have the germ of a story. I don’t know how this will work for everyone, I only know that it does work in varying degrees for all those who have any creative urge.

For me, it’s possible to sit down at the keyboard with absolutely no preconceived ideas, no knowledge of a character, no story thread, and end up with a short story at a single sitting./ Sometimes, I need longer, more sessions, but I frequently end up with a story at the end of the process. The important thing is not to think about what you’re writing, not to allow the search for the right word to get in the way. If this means that you put down the same word seventeen times in a row, it’s not important. The exercise is about getting over that block that’s preventing you from creating. Ignore grammar, spelling, syntax and appropriate language. If expletives come to you use them, or, more accurately, allow them space on the page. You can always remove them when you go back to do your edit.

And that’s the real point here. What you’re doing is allowing the creative side of your brain to play without that irritatingly perfectionist editing policeman to look over your shoulder with his corrections and insistence on proper sentence formation. If you seek perfection at the moment of creativity, you’ll never create a thing. Do you suppose Michelangelo produced his works without error, Did Da Vinci make no mistakes along the path to genius? Were Shakespeare’s first drafts the works you now see performed on stage and screen the world over? Of course not. You see the finished article, the polished piece, from all published artists. What you don’t see is the stumbles and wrong paths, the mistakes and glaring errors of grammar they made along the route to that brilliant perfect work. If you insist on comparing your fledgling work with the final output of an accomplished master, you’ll always be poor by comparison. Wait until you’ve finished the piece before you start to make comparisons, if you must.

This piece started off as an exercise to write a new story. Seriously, that is what I had in mind when I sat at the keyboard. That it turned into this piece is simply an illustration of my point. That allowing your creative self to take ascendency will eventually produce a piece of written work with some value. It may need some work; it may need completely re-writing. It may be no more than the germ of a story that you can later turn into the work you envisaged at the start. But it will be a piece of writing that has carried you over the block. It’s because I’ve used this technique almost all my writing life that I’ve never actually suffered writer’s block. There have been odd times when I’ve turned out something like this rather than a piece of fiction, but I’ve always been able to place words on paper.

It’s about taking the plunge, being brave. It’s about ignoring that ingrained school lesson that everything must be right. It’s about trusting your inner artist. As Julia Cameron says in The Artist’s Way, you need to treat your inner artist as a child. Allow it to play. Give it the freedom to make mistakes, we learn from such mistakes. And, in the end, when it comes to writing, what has been lost if you produce a page that’s mostly gobbledegook? A few moments of your time? Nothing more. But the gains that are possible form such an exercise are enormous.

I set out with a blank sheet this morning. These words, exactly as they are now, took me about twenty minutes to write. But only because I deliberately refused to allow my inner policeman to interfere as I produced the idea. Of course, I did correct the odd typo as I went along, but I’ve been doing this for years. If it’s your first time, I suggest you avoid even looking at the screen or the piece of paper, if you’re writing by hand. That way you have no reason to backtrack. I have the excuse that, as time went past, I realised I had a piece for my blog. But, I want to be as honest as convention permits. So, I’m making the decision now not to edit this piece, but to publish it as it came from my finger ends. If I can do this, knowing that it will be read by many people, surely you can do it, knowing you can go back at a later date and make your words perfect, correct any syntactical or grammatical errors, remove any repetitions.

So, that’s my challenge to you. Start off your day with that blank sheet of paper and just write those words that flow, regardless of order, grammar, syntax, spelling or even sense. These are words to get your creative spirit out into the open. Consider them the same as those first strokes of preparation painters make on their blank canvass. But remember that, for most painters, they have the advantage of a subject actually before them. You, as a writer, may have no more than the accumulated experience of your lifetime and the words you’ve read from others. By allowing your inner artist to overcome the inner policeman, you might just turn out the foundation of a piece that you can turn into that work of genius.

So. There you have it. I’ve probably repeated myself, used inappropriate words, missed out words here and there. But, truthfully, this piece has not been edited. It would be worthless if I’d done that. It is, after all, intended as an illustration of what can be achieved by getting that damned policeman off your shoulder and letting your artist out to play.

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Cover of BECOMING A WRITER

I blush at the errors in the piece, but I hope this has been useful for you. I’d welcome your comments. Thanks for reading this.

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The Writing Den; What's Yours?

Whether luck or prudence provided me with a room of my own is for others to determine. My suspicion is that, in common with most things in life, it's a mixture of these things. Be that as it may, I have the good fortune to have a room in which I can lock myself away from other concerns when I write.

It's not ideal. Small, with a window, behind me, that overlooks the end of the drive with the fence between us and the neighbours beyond and the garage door to the right. As I sit, at a desk built from a flat-pack kit bought some twenty or so years ago, I face the door into the hallway of our bungalow. At present, because I'm writing this before my wife and daughter have emerged from sleep, I have that door closed. Hanging from a hook on the back is a hand drawn map of the land I'm using to set my epic fantasy. Beside that, a cork board bears a few documents as aids in my everyday writing as well as a collage I made as part of the creative aspect of Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way course I'm currently undertaking. It depicts those things I most want in life and is intended as both motivator and reminder of why I do this thing; writing. Next to that is a portrait of my wife and a couple of self-designed posters to act as reminders about certain of my less positive aspects - positive statements to keep me on track.

A large, four drawer cabinet sits below these, housing an assortment of things that have nothing to do with my writing; it lives here as the only suitable location for such a metal monstrosity. Utilitarian but exceedingly useful.

Directly in front of the desk a small chest of drawers stores various bits and pieces and acts as base for my printers. Printers? Yes. A monochrome multifunction laser printer for my physical submissions; it gives the best quality text. And a colour inkjet for my drafts and to print off those things that need to be in colour, including photographs.

My desk holds the computer, which actually sits on the desk as there's no room on the floor, where my feet rest on a plastic footrest. A pair of headphones sits on top of the computer box, for those times I want to exclude all external noise, playing the music I have recorded onto the system. My flat screen monitor is directly ahead, on one of those rotating stands that allows it to be moved out of the way. The speakers sit either side and the mouse, along with a graphics pad rest to my right. The box of gubbins that projects the internet signal to my wife and daughter's computers also lurks there, under the monitor. A document stand rises with various bits of essential paperwork to the left and a coaster holds a glass of water (I never drink alcohol in here, though wine is stored in a rack just behind the door.)

I have pens, pads and post-it notes at hand either behind me on the windowsill or on the desk itself. The drawers to my right hold all the essential stationery and other stuff I might need.

The walls on either side are lined from floor to ceiling with shelves bearing most of my books. My essential reference volumes are within easy reach for all those occasions I need to consult an oracle.

I play music as I write. Not because I listen to it, but because it excludes those external sounds that might otherwise distract me. I have two playlists. One mostly of popular music and giving 2 days of tunes if played constantly. The other contains classical music and would last for a day and a half if played without stopping. I play them alternately and use the random selection option so I never know what track is coming next.

A radiator at my back keeps me warm in winter and the window above it can be opened for fresh air and cooling breezes in summer.

There is little decoration, largely because there's very little spare wall space. But there's room for a few pictures and I intend to fill that soon. I also have a couple of small statuettes; one a porcelain slip cast in white of a female torso that I picked up from a potter in the Yorkshire Dales many years ago. The other is a fairly primitive carving of a kneeling woman, which I found in a shop on the Greek island of Rhodes, a favourite holiday destination. I like it for its simplicity and natural quality.

So, there you have it. The place I use to create my works.

Is it ideal? Of course not. I'd love a large library room, with an antique desk and plenty of space to spread out, and a view overlooking the sea, to which I could walk in minutes. But that's the dream and it'll take a lot more work to make it reality.

But it is my own room. My private space. I can relax in here and do as I wish. My wife and daughter respect my need for solitary times and rarely interrupt me, unless they have some sudden computer issue that needs sorting or some domestic emergency arises that I'm best suited to resolve.

I have my space and I make great use of it. I admire those writers, usually women, who are forced to carry out their craft at the dining table with family as constant distraction. To create under such conditions would be almost impossible for me, and I salute their dedication and ability.

So, where do you write? Share your space with others who visit this site and see if we can't, between us, inspire some creativity.  

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The Writing Week

An odd week all in all, but fairly positive. I've written 2,600 words of a new short story, edited 4 chapters of the current WIP novel, updated the blog, including the gallery and the Writing Contests page, and joined a new photography community online.
Took a break to collect my daughter from university, where she has now completed her first year (somewhat early, as the course she is doing requires no exams, but a dissertation and a full blown photo exhibition in her final year).
Been in the garden, when the weather allowed, and entered more photographs on my Facebook page.
The writing course, under the title The Artists Way, by Julia Cameron, continues to go well, with new thoughts and insights occurring more or less daily. 7 weeks of the 12 done so far. I'd recommend this for anyone who feels in any way blocked creatively.
My birthday on Wednesday, so some small celebrations planned. One more year and I take retirement from my day job and gain the time to work full time on the writing.
Also, the annual tax return must be done next week.
How goes the writing and reading with you out there?

The Week, Writing.

Traffic lights can have several additional lights for filter turns or bus lanes. This one in Warrington, United Kingdom, also shows the red + amber combination seen in a number of European countries. It also shows the backing board and white border used to increase the target value of the signal head. Improved visibility of the signal head is achieved during the night by using the retro-reflective white border. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Another fractured week. Domestic duties vying with writing demands and wants. Still, it's been a positive few days in so many ways, and it's good to have Kate back home for a while. The walk with Valerie on Thursday took us into new country and the unseasonal sun baked us as we walked 6 miles through rural parts not previously explored. Managed to escape the fools queuing for fuel and draining the petrol stations of the very fuel they so desired. Government ministers may bear some responsibility for their inane advice but the general public acted like sheep and queued for hours to buy petrol they didn't really need.
In Preston, at the very end of the trip to collect our daughter, a young man in a large new car crashed into the back of my small hatchback at some traffic lights. A small white mark was my only damage. His was a broken front bumper and a smashed number plate.
Kate drove us back home, which was a great rest for me.
I'm currently reading and acting on, the Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. It's a 'spiritual' approach to the recapture of creativity and, if you can get past her generic use of God (Good orderly direction) as the external creative force, her advice seems apposite and appropriate. I've managed the 'morning pages' every day so far. And I've taken my 'artist's dates', employing them to do some drawing, listen to music and to write some poetry, a genre I rarely indulge in. So far, the process has been beneficial, so I'll see it through. If you're feeling blocked in any way, it might be a good idea to take this 12 week course.
I've managed a piece for the blog - to be posted next week, and a short piece for a contest. But I've also spent a good deal of my time bringing the Writing Contests page up to date - it's accessible on the tab above and will lead you to hundreds of contest details and links to the websites.
And I've dealt with those emails you get and decide you'll do later; you know, the ones that require more than a minute or two to complete.
So, not a bad week in all, but not enough writing done. Still, now the decks are more or less clear, the coming week should provide the opportunity for more words to be written. That's the plan, anyway.
See you on the other side of the week. And good luck with your writing and reading.

The Week, Writing and Other Things.

The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I started reading Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way last week, without realising it's actually a 12 week course. So, I decided I'd try it out. I've previously done the exercises in Dorothea Brande's Becoming a Writer and found them extremely useful, so I thought this might prove a similar experience. My verdict, after the first week?  I think this might be something special. You have to get over her use of 'God' as a generic term for the creative force outside yourself, but, once you've overcome that barrier, a lot of what she says makes sense. I've already identified incidents that may well have been responsible for various barriers I've placed in my own way throughout life and I'm now ready to do something about removing or clearing those hurdles.

The grass has had its first cut, the mild weather allowing it to grow at an alarming rate. So, a few hours spent in the garden. There's a deal to do out there, but most of it will have to wait until I have more free time and spare energy.

My brother and his wife are leaving the town for a village some 70 miles or so away, so we spent a grand evening with them and drank too much wine but had a great time. As he's been clearing his bookshelves for the move, I've also inherited some new books to add to my 'to read' stack, which now totals over 190 titles. Updated the lists on the blog and Goodreads to account for that.

Read my Writers' Forum magazine and Writers' Digest and updated the Writing Contests page on the blog here. After asking the question, I discovered a way to place PDF docs on the blog, so I've installed one for the contests, another for my 'to read' list and yet another under the 'Tools & Links' tab; this latter is an alphabetical listing of over 10,000 first names taken from all over the world and colour coded for gender. Useful for searching for suitable character names, or even for choosing the name for your new baby. And, since these are PDF docs, I thought I'd better install a link for people to download the Abode PDF reader, which is free, in case they don't have it.

So, not a lot of writing done, apart from the 3 hand-written pages that are a daily requirement of the course, and a feature to place on the blog at the end of the month. But I'm gradually clearing the decks and making space to get on with some serious work in the near future.

The NaNoWriMo novel? I'm no longer sure what to do with that. Let's say it's not developing the way I had hoped. Time will tell on that one.