Aphelion

Those were some good suggestions on Writer's Block, Dan.

I know that both you and Lee have complained about struggling with writer's block in the past, and you both have managed to crank out at least one flash piece in that period.

Given that, perhaps flash can be your ticket out. I don't just mean in the Challenges, either (although it would be great to have you both each month). Logically, if you can do it once, you should be able to do it again. If you can do it again, you should be able to do it often. If you can do it often, you're not blocked anymore. It may not fix a desire to return to a longer piece that you previously started, but it gets your creativity going.

A lot of writers do small pieces for their blogs each day. I believe that Dave still does that.

Both the Gareths have had success on their blogs with their "Friday Fictioneers" group that now has a respectable number of members now, the biggest name being Jay Lake. They try to post stories each Friday, and then the group comments on each other's pieces. Good for creativity and networking.

So, more flash may not be the answer, but it probably won't hurt. Good luck!

Nate

(Kudos to Nate for making the Editorial a topic)

I find a tangible difference between Flash and longer efforts. It might be a curse of writers everywhere to be able to "dash off" something quick knowing that it is disposable, and one's intuition can see it all .. in a flash.

Sustaining work on a longer project may still be blocked, and it may be tempting to want to divert attention to "spark" excursions that may have value in themselves, but represent distractions from the grand goal.

Is there a harm in diverting, really? If you're all "bound up" (figuratively speaking), and you find that creativity moves you in that spark, why not divert? Whatever they may be, there are reasons the longer work was halted and writer's block set in. Those diversions may help someone resolve the larger issues. True, such sparks may they take away time from the goal of a long piece, but there's nothing saying one has to keep diverting, either. The mere fact that those sparks are short lived means that they don't have to be a long-term diversion (unless someone pledges to run a monthly flash contest and therefore has to produce flash... ::)).

Even so, looking at your ever-growing library of stories changes your perspective. One tends to think of oneself as less of a dabbler, and more of a real writer. Real writers keep writing, editing, and finding markets instead of parking on the couch and watching tv all the time. I know I've picked up some bigger works that I'd set aside with a renewed determination to make them good enough to sell them to somebody.

So, flash might not be the answer for everyone, but it seems to be working for me so far.

Nate

kudos to Nate for the shot in the arm and for remembering!

dudes, i'm even regressing into reader's block!

Boy, I'm getting a lot of kudos this month. Weird, but thanks for them all!

Maybe a direct fight at the loss of desire to read can help your writer's block, too. I've always found that when I don't read anything, I don't feel like writing either. It's like your mind gets out of that track & it takes a big push to get back into it.

I'd say try reading every single story this month, and see if it makes it easier to write a challenge story. :)

Nate

post didn't go thru...was saying every story would be overly optimistic. and btw the kudos are well deserved.

All I can say is one tries, and thanks.

If you mean overly optimistic in the Challenge, I can say for a fact, no, they aren't all.

Nate

You have to wonder what that person was looking for, especially in a thread about the editorial, which was all about beating writer's block.

Or maybe Lee, Dave, Tao and I are lame. Well, maybe just Tao. ;)

Nate

Ex-member??

RUDE PUN WARNING! Stop reading or prepare to be offended (or forced to groan so loud that you risk dislocating your jaw)!



Lessee now, "member" is a euphemism for ... you know. And "tool" is another euphemism for the same thing.

Hence "member" = "tool" in this context.

Therefore "Whathte..." has achieved something very difficult:

He is an "Ex-member" ... but he is still ... oh, you fill in the blanks.

:o