Have the same problem as you right now. The weather has been awesome, so I've been at the beach almost everyday. Used up three notebooks now. Getting my butt in gear isn't very tempting. What motivates me though is knowing the word counts in my sig will get a major bump. I hate knowing I have actually written at least twice as much as it says, but I can't update it until I start typing
Egh. I wrote up some advice for this but somebody merged the thread here; I got an invalid link and lost the whole reply >_> Basically I said something like; I don't think it's writer's block. Writer's block is a problem with the act of writing creatively. We're blocked from writing new material by things like anxiety, perfectionism etc. In this case you're just transferring your manuscript to a different format. It's probably a lack of motivational or maybe you're a little sick of writing after the success of completing a novel Sit yourself down now, grab your manuscript and write a few paragraphs, or a page or two. If you get in to it, then great. If you're really having trouble concentrating, maybe you should take a break for a while and chill on the story. Alternatively, you could try listening to music or watching a movie in the background while you write up the manuscript, just be careful not to make any errors. Egh. It just doesn't feel the same as the original
Since you don't particularly feel like writing, there is an alternative to writing. Reading...and thinking. Read the the first chapter of your first draft. Then spend the rest of the day mulling over it, envisioning the scene, and improving it. Add some cracking dialogue, a more exciting location, more tension. Once you've mentally moulded the scene into something that rekindles your interest in writing it, you may now start writing. You may be one of those people who writes a scene only when they're sure it's a scene worth writing.
Biography writers and writer's block Hi all, Do biography writer's suffer from writer's block? If yes, what does that look like. I mean they are not creating a fiction story but writing the account of someone else's life. How does the block show in this case? Thanks, Matt
I think maybe their not sure about what event to write about next? Or maybe how to put that event in words. Maybe its indescribable. Hope I helped
That nails much of it. Had a look at it, and will look at breaking down the '10 parts' each into individual chapters - and then it doesnt seem like a huge bloc to write up. What surprised me is that in the first novel I wrote I did exactly the same thing and didn't have any 'block-ed, disinterested' moments. Thanks to all for your advice.
Actually writers block is usually hen I need to put down the computer. I have walked away from the computer, called a friend, gone out to dinner, spoken with a fellow writer. For me the trick is actually going back.
I write character sketchs. I have thousands of characters all arading through my head if what I am working on won't gel I work on character sketches. It works every time. They don't even have to be good, just put them on your computer as characters and type away.
You know what else helps? Pen and paper. Pull out pen and paper and do it the old fashioned way. Sometimes the screen is more that you can handle.
I recommend you cover your screen just before you begin to type, that way your eyes don't stop/edit/reflect on word choices and the flow remains at a constant rate. Editing comes later, after the story's creation, but we, while trying to improve, often edit as we type and so put doubt into our ability.
Ok so recently ive been really lazy and i haven't written much, but i want to and i really want to stop just talking about my work and actually doing it. I just can't seem to become motivated enough without being constantly distracted or the thought of food. For some odd reason. i can't think very well when im hungry XD. Ive been trying my best to get to work, but im always ethier interrupted with something or distracted. And when i do feel the urge to write, it's at 4AM in the morning. Ugh.
I get the same thing, I dont write until 12 at night and end up going to sleep at 3am. Ironicaly the only way to beat procrastination is to just do it, just start writing.
I start the day by writing 400 words at breakfast, everyday. I don't wait to be in the mood, I don't wait for "the muse", I just do it. I treat it like a job, only I enjoy it more. When it's really important to you, I guess you'll make time. You'll put those 95 words toward your work in progress, instead of on a forum post.
This forum is a major form of procrastination. I often delude myself into thinking that talking about writing is the same as writing. The curse of writingforums.org!
Just voicing my agreement to what JackElliot said, try and designate a certain time as writing time. Even if you don't really feel like it before hand, if you enjoy writing you'll usually start to enjoy it once you get going. The important thing is to treat it like an appointment that involves other people. You have to turn up on time. I'm a terrible procrastinator too. Edit: Yeah, I tend to spend more time on forums relating to my hobbies than I do actually doing them.
Thanks for the tips, im looking at this in a much different perspective now. Im shoving the unfinished map in my face so i can finish what i was working on XD
I've slipping in and out of writing since comprehensive and only recently have started getting on with it. Though it tends to be late at night. You cant force it I suppose if you love your characters it'll be ok to miss out on a few nights sleep. lol Good Luck
I totally know the 4AM feeling, I've crawled into bed before, exhausted and then had the urge to write. What helped me, and disregard if you're already doing it, is to treat your work like well...work. I spent summer getting up at 8am, having breakfast and then sitting down to write until 12, lunch, and then wrote again until 5. With breaks for drinks, cigarettes etc. I'm sure you're already doing this, or have given it a go. But if not, it can work Just stick a tv show on, or some music and batten down the hatches
I've found that one of the big things in writing to cause me to procrastinate is starting a new story or chapter or just from the beginning of a piece of writing. I tend to over think how to get going and end up taking hours to do just that. If I start from a few paragraphs or even pages in, this usually doesn't affect me, and what I've grown accustomed to doing is at least tagging a beginning on the next piece of writing before I finish the night before. Sometimes I have to go back and replace the beginning, but at least it does its job and gets me rolling.
That is an excellent idea. Also, I am considering writing my next novel chronologically, but when I come to a trouble spot, skipping to scenes I know I want to write and then knitting it together later. I did this over the summer as well. It worked extremely well. I will miss it when back to work this coming Monday.
Sometimes I get myself excited to write by going on long drives. I get an idea and race home to write my story. I'll get thrilled about a character, a plot device, the way I saw a leaf blowing in the wind and hitting a car's windshield and the driver swerves -- anything that strikes me that I've got to get down. Someone -- maybe it was Stephen King -- said you can't sit and wait for inspiration to come, you've got to chase it down and attack it with a bat. Some other writer said he sits himself down for an hour a day and he doesn't have to write, but he isn't allowed to do anything else.
