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WRITERS BLOCK - YR HOME REMEDIES? (Page 2)

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Author	Topic: WRITERS BLOCK - YR HOME REMEDIES?
Matt Is The Best Member	posted 01-02-2001 08:58 AM occassionally i get it.... writers block. I guess there are two things I do, both of which work.... Sometimes i get it because I am too picky with my work. I write a bit and then go back and find everything that I'm unsatisfied with and in doing so, tire myself out, all the joy i feel for writing disipates and then I never get anywhere. When this happens I just tell myself to stop being the editor. You just have to turn off the editor in the back of your mind and keep on writing. Don't edit until your done the book or the story or whatever. Or, when you just sit down and can't think of a thing... That's when I know I'm either too stressed or too tired. You can't force yourself to write. The best thing to do is just to take a break. Maybe a day, maybe two days, maybe a week. Maybe two weeks. At least until you find yourself again. Just don't panic. Try to remain calm and say I know, this isn't working. Maybe i just need some time away. IP: Logged
actsoblonde Member	posted 01-02-2001 09:00 AM When I get writer's block (which is VERY rarely), than I go watch my favorite movie, and usually before the movie's over with, I come up with some very creative ideas. I haven't finished a movie in FOREVER, because I always stop it to write down the ideas I have ( I DO finish it later, though, LOL). IP: Logged
velvet Member	posted 01-02-2001 11:38 AM Drugs, and lots of 'em. Nature, preferably alone. Prayer and meditation in any form. I once created an installation piece and lived in it for 20 months. (I did leave, I had classes etc., but I spent an inordinate amount of time in it.) I was never blocked, but I short-circuited myself from too constant a dramatic sensory level. It's been three years, and I'm almost fully recovered. IP: Logged
The Jack of Hearts Member	posted 01-02-2001 11:43 AM First, I go to the closest used records store and buy a Doors album. But NOT the greatest hits one! Greatest hits albums are for commies and Grandmas. Then, I go out into the parking lot and steal a car. I drive that car into the next state and ditch it. THEN, I go immediately into a biker bar and start a fistfight! I, then, spend the night in jail, and then hitch-hike back home the next day. Hope this helps. [This message has been edited by The Jack of Hearts (edited 01-02-2001).] IP: Logged
roman74 Member	posted 01-02-2001 11:47 AM Three words: Morn ing Papers IP: Logged
critical_critic Member	posted 01-02-2001 12:01 PM I get a writer's block when too much logic kicks in. Like everyting has to make sense. Then I just call up a friend and play some mad volleyball. Usually helps.. if it don't, gimme sum o dat fuckin' JD. cc IP: Logged
Lune12 Member	posted 01-02-2001 01:21 PM waaaaahhh!!!!! Ok, soory but I've been sent on a Thread Killing mission--not this fine thread, but the Hallmark thread. (Hallmark said it was OK.) I have to bump the posts below it for a while. sorry to interrupt. IP: Logged
WearyBard Junior Member	posted 01-03-2001 07:33 AM Writer's block is not something that can really be cured. You can either try to write through it (probably the best idea if you're against a deadline) or wait it out. What I usually do when I have writer's block is simply proofread what I already have. Usually in the process of proofing, I end up re-writing what I already had and before I know it, I'm moving the story forward. And when that doesn't work, I read whatever book I'm currently devouring and wait for inspiration. Sometimes that's all you really can do. I hope that helps someone. --WearyBard IP: Logged
b-man Member	posted 01-03-2001 08:12 AM I watch old Italian horror movies. After a good laugh, I realize my scripts might not be so bad. Usually does the trick. IP: Logged
cloudkick Member	posted 01-03-2001 11:58 AM this is great, all you guys offering up your stuff. i think sometimes just doing automatic writing like the old dadaists and surrealists (my favorite people in history) helps beat back the over analytic demon that arrests everything. just breaking that wall. IP: Logged
cloudkick Member	posted 01-03-2001 11:59 AM i also found that exercising helps alot. i do karate, and some of my best ideas happen when i'm stretching or throwing kicks. get the blood pumping. IP: Logged
cloudkick Member	posted 01-03-2001 12:01 PM jack, i'm sure mr. mojo would approve! IP: Logged
Lune12 Member	posted 01-03-2001 12:34 PM I was a a writer's seminar, and one of the authors (Steve?) Wisniewsky, an acclaimed children's book author said came up with a myth to help him deal with doubt and writer's block. He said there were there were 7 doubting brothers who live in every writer's head: one who says his (the writer)idea is crap; one that tells him he can't write anyway; one who says no one else will like it either; One who says he's totally wasting his time; One who says it's ten times easier to just get a regular job; one who says he's not talented enough anyway compared to the rest; *one who says--when published--he's a fake and tricked everyone. Aparently you have to kill them all before you can finish the project. We all fight our own demons throughout the process. IP: Logged
cloudkick Member	posted 01-03-2001 12:38 PM wow, what an epic battle we put up, huh? such a tightrope walk. i think it always cuts both ways, doubt spurs greater effort and also incites debilitating fear. IP: Logged
LegalLatino Member	posted 01-04-2001 12:20 AM I'm a firm believer of "the ideas will come to you at the most unexpected moments." Yet there are many nights where I sit at a computer on a newspaper deadline or project to turn into one of my classes thinking, screw it all, "I've got writers block." Sometimes kicking the crap out of anything helps. Giving a Rock Bottom to a unsuspecting victim just clears the mind. Then there's the music. Sometimes, I just put on a CD of a mood that I want my writing to reflect. Thoughtful... u2. Persuasive or Protest... Rage. Cheerful... Janet Jackson (Mmmm, Janet). Pertaining to law and order... rap (or pimping). Just depends. Deadlines suck. Journalism is a great field, just the idea of... THIS BETTER BE GOOD... AND ITS DUE YESTERDAY type attitude doesn't always give you the time to perfect the pieces of work you submit. -The Legal ONe IP: Logged
Lola Member	posted 01-04-2001 01:17 AM I don't get writer's block so much as I get stuck in where the story should go. So, first I go back ten pages or so and rewrite. If that doesn't work, I put it down and go to the movies!!!! IP: Logged
Lansky Member	posted 01-04-2001 02:29 AM And there really is a difference between being blocked..and just finding the discipline to force yourself to ease in, to begin with an excercise. When I'm really stuck, I start out with a To-Do List for the next day..and wind up on a high speed mission to Mars with Stephen King clinging to my ear. It's a very martial approach. Tang Soo, baby. IP: Logged
lostfairytales Member	posted 01-04-2001 03:20 AM I've had writer's block off and on for the past two years now. I seem to never know what I do to get it to past. Sometimes I feel inspired to write when I feel close to someone again and sometimes that doesn't exactly work. You have to test what works best on you. It is something you must seek out and find for yourself. I'm thankful though that I'm able to write again. I get pretty irritable when I can't write. So I'm glad I'm back to myself again. I hope that I helped you in some way or another... IP: Logged
Lune12 Member	posted 01-04-2001 05:12 AM Discipline--now that's that's a motherfucker...(sorry to revert back to the gutter where I was raised...) So is fear IP: Logged
cloudkick Member	posted 01-04-2001 02:56 PM bumping for the headbump remedies. IP: Logged
RadicalCon Member	posted 01-05-2001 01:09 AM I've never actually experienced 'writer's block'. More often than not/my problem is 'writer's avoidance syndrome'. Meaning I will get early in the morning on the weekend w/every intention of sitting down to write/then proceed to change my linens/do laundry/organize my closets/change the litter box/& every other damn thing I can think of to avoid writing until late @ nite. My cure for that has been to wait generally 'til after 11pm to start writing. Daytime is too noisy for me to concentrate w/my neighbor's brats shrieking at the top of their lungs outside my window. (Why do small children have to constantly SHOUT at EVERYONE?) Except on those days when it's pouring outside/I almost never do any serious writing during the day. But the flip side is I can get into The Zone & write from 11pm til 4 or 5am some nites. So it balances out. (But I also don't have to be at work til 2pm. And my job is 15 min. from my house.) The best cure I can recommend for writer's block is to get away from the computer & go outside -- but take a pen & notebook w/you. I didn't get my 1st computer 'til 1996. I can compose at the keyboard now/but prior to that/I did all my writing in longhand. Taking a notebook w/you & sitting down outside somewhere pretty & peaceful -- a park or the beach or a table at yr favorite diner or outdoor cafe -- is a great reorientation for yr thought-process. (Writing in bars in the afternoon is also a good cure for writer's block. But/for obvious reasons/it only works in bars where no one knows you.) Sometimes the blinking cusror can be awfully intimidating. Whereas the words just sort of run from yr brain down yr arm & through yr pen when you're writing in longhand. A good hard romp around the house w/the cat also helps when the head gets foggy. IP: Logged
cloudkick Member	posted 01-05-2001 11:55 AM it's so tough getting started. but once you crack a few pages, things really get rolling. it just opens the volcano. IP: Logged
Uilani Member	posted 01-05-2001 01:25 PM Three Absolut martinis staight up, with jalapeno-stuffed olives, then I start phone-harassing my relatives. That gets my creative juices flowin'..... Uilani IP: Logged
cloudkick Member	posted 01-05-2001 01:27 PM ulani, that sounds like a truly inspired plan. i'm phoning old ma as we speak! IP: Logged
Lune12 Member	posted 01-05-2001 02:19 PM I'm with Uliani. (and who cares if it doesn't unlock writer's block: jalapeno-stuffed olive Martinis!) IP: Logged
Uilani Member	posted 01-05-2001 08:52 PM I just noticed on my post I wrote "staight up" instead of "straight up"....must've been that 3rd "martoonie".....wheeee.....where's that phone? IP: Logged
cloudkick Member	posted 01-06-2001 04:34 PM is finishing a script as hard for everyone as starting it? IP: Logged
Lune12 Member	posted 01-06-2001 05:07 PM I have it all--more or less--hashed out in my head & on paper before I start. I know the ending already. Once I am ready for the FADE IN: I can really get crankin'. (Of course I come up with new twists & details along the way.) IP: Logged
cloudkick Member	posted 01-07-2001 03:50 PM but it seems like there's a real psychological thing going on with completing those final pages. like the baby's finally kicking out. IP: Logged
Lune12 Member	posted 01-07-2001 04:28 PM At some point after the mystery or romantic debacles have been solved (those are my genres) it all has to come to a halt with a touch of meaning. The tough choice is deciding what the last line, the last lingering image will be--wrapping it all up with a bow. IP: Logged
cloudkick Member	posted 01-08-2001 11:20 AM lune, i hear that. always gotta leave on a high kick. IP: Logged

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