I'm trying to write a piece of creative non-fiction.

How does one go about tackling writer's block when it comes in a strange form? What I mean is, I know exactly what I want to write about (generally), and I have a lot of "ideas," but the gravity of the subject makes it difficult for me to get past a few sentences before I get frustrated and decide it's essentially "unworthy." It's not so much that I don't have the words, feelings, stories, etc. to create the piece, it's that I don't know how make everything gel.

I'm not sure if this makes sense. I guess the problem is that I have ideas, i just can't structure them, or don't know how to make them cohesive enough to make a clear and creative piece that doesn't suck.

Any ideas?

I'd say tell your internal critic to shut the hell up. Just write your ideas, expamd on thme where you know you can, but don't try to fine tune it at this time. Get the first draft pulled together, and then you can organize it and begin to flesh it out in the first couple revisions.

Accept that it will look rough for quite a while, and just focus on the health of the foundations.

the so-called 'writer's block' is sorta like jet lag... if you don't believe it exists, it won't bother you... like cog says, just go ahead and start writing any old way and see what happens...

i've never had either 'problem' thanks to not believing there is such a thing... when i come to a sticking point on one piece of work, i just switch to another till the first one kicks back in... and when traveling around the world [which i've done literally and for many years], i just set my watch for whatever time it is when i arrive and then act as if it is... et, voila!... no supposed 'jet lag'!... mind trumps matter when you let it...


love and hugs, maia

thanks, guys. i'm actually on a time frame, but i do have enough time to keep it rough for awhile. I appreciate the encouragement.

difficult for me to get past a few sentences before I get frustrated and decide it's essentially "unworthy." It's not so much that I don't have the words, feelings, stories, etc. to create the piece, it's that I don't know how make everything gel.

.

Any ideas?

This is the exact same problem I get. I will happily spend an hour writing a piece, save it and go away. When I come back to the pages I have written I think, "This sucks!"
I usually end up starting again and am yet to finish writing a short story.
I am hoping to enter a weekly contest (when Uni workload dies down) as the deadline may force me to finish by a certain time.

For the newsletter stories I write, I'll do an outline of what I want to say, then fill in the sections and often combine or delete material as I see fit. If I had to start from beginning and write raw to the end, I would get lost.
Now that I'm developing a novel, I started with the same concept ...an outline (chapter headings) and am developing the story one piece at a time. Sometimes I skip ahead to quckly scribble something down if I think I'm going to lose a thought, so I'm still not writng begining-to-end. Works for me. Maybe give it a try?

I'd agree with Cogito, just slam out a rough draft and then you can sit back and begin to scrutinize it. I get writers block all the time (for one reason or the other), but I just keep plugging away and then a week later or so when I come back to it I'm fresh and able to tackle the next version.

I know the feeling, Fran, and I hate it too. Sometimes though all you have to do it tells that voice inside you to shut the **** up and just keep writing. I do it all the time with my coursework and stuff. As I am writing it I cannot help but think it sounds bad and keep starting again etc, then when I finish it normally does end up sounding allright. Just give it time and ignore the voice. :)
Heather