Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Writer's block

I'VE HAD WRITER'S block for a long time. It's frustrating and sends you swimming around in your own brain, with no way out.

I write a blog five days a week. That's largely due to Sheryl being a positive influence and encouraging (not making) me do it. We've seen the reader numbers rise and it's mostly because we post a blog every morning, if possible.

Fast Eddie agrees.
There is no excuse for not writing. None. You either do it or you don't. There is always enough time to write, there are always things to write about. Writing is a habit, and I've gotten into the habit of writing a blog every morning. It's pretty simple, right?

Actually, I think I have too much time on my hands. Spend 24 years as a journalist, and you'll realize life is one big deadline. My best stories would be the ones written under the gun, with an editor staring over my shoulder and the clock loudly ticking away.

Take away the deadline, and there's a lack of urgency. I'm trying to get better at being more organized, but I'm lousy at setting goals. If I say, "Okay, tonight from 7 to 8 I am going to write the next chapter of my book," I'm just fooling myself. Too much stuff pops up and time tends to get away from us.

After I left The Whig four years ago, I wrote a book of short stories, and Sheryl put it together to be self-published. Right now I have two other books started. Why can't I keep going? I spent yesterday afternoon thinking about one of the books, how to proceed, what it should be like, how to tackle logistics. It was too much. I gotta get out of my head and just do it. Sheryl agrees that I overthink things and just need to take action sometimes.

So I'm diving back in. I hope.

No comments:

Post a Comment