October 23rd, 2009 / 3:53 pm
Snippets
Snippets
Ryan Call—
Yesterday, my composition students brought up something called ‘writer’s block’ and shared with me different ways they try to overcome it. Some said they liked to eat a snack. Another girl said she liked to take a nap. Another girl said she liked to return to her research and read more. I said that during the summer of 2007, if I felt stuck on something, I took a shower. This led to my taking several long showers each day. I ceased this practice once my wife showed me the utility bill. What do you do to overcome ‘writer’s block’?
Write.
(i tell myself: i’m either writing or not-writing. no block. nothing is stopping me.)
i pick out a book at random from my shelf and read. i repeat this until i feel like trying to write again.
Write.
(i tell myself: i’m either writing or not-writing. no block. nothing is stopping me.)
i pick out a book at random from my shelf and read. i repeat this until i feel like trying to write again.
i.e. i don’t resist much
i used to get really good ideas while in the shower. i was just sad in the bath.
i.e. i don’t resist much
i used to get really good ideas while in the shower. i was just sad in the bath.
used to have sex. used to take showers. used to go for walks. used to relax. used to watch movies. used to fret and stress and think i’d never write again.
i like to watch movies with long, static shots. Somehow they release my thoughts.
Anyone like bela tarr?
used to have sex. used to take showers. used to go for walks. used to relax. used to watch movies. used to fret and stress and think i’d never write again.
i like to watch movies with long, static shots. Somehow they release my thoughts.
Anyone like bela tarr?
i watch tyra
i watch tyra
drink more coffee. shower. masturbate. eat. open ‘the stranger’. read facebook status messages, which make me feel horrible which usually makes me feel great about trying to write in the first place.
drink more coffee. shower. masturbate. eat. open ‘the stranger’. read facebook status messages, which make me feel horrible which usually makes me feel great about trying to write in the first place.
Give up writing.
Give up writing.
dayum guuuurl.
dayum guuuurl.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2155/1557069177_558097214a_o.gif
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2155/1557069177_558097214a_o.gif
haha.
stab myself in the head.
haha.
stab myself in the head.
yeah i dunno if i think of it as a block
Writer’s block is for jackasses.
yeah i dunno if i think of it as a block
Writer’s block is for jackasses.
write 1st person about this .gif
write 1st person about this .gif
I read waiting for godot or Naked Lunch. either forces me to write. sometimes I ride my bike
I read waiting for godot or Naked Lunch. either forces me to write. sometimes I ride my bike
i like this too.
i like this too.
erkay
I shoot beer and drink doe in estrous scent.
Or I write about how it feels to have writer’s block.
Has anyone said writer’s block is bullshit yet?
I was waiting.
Also, you know, reading always works.
erkay
I shoot beer and drink doe in estrous scent.
Or I write about how it feels to have writer’s block.
Has anyone said writer’s block is bullshit yet?
I was waiting.
Also, you know, reading always works.
All of you need to run, far. If you run far ideas will bloom in your head like broken glass.
All of you need to run, far. If you run far ideas will bloom in your head like broken glass.
when i read that john ashbery often goes six months or so without writing i stopped worrying and learned to love the not, and now i wonder what it is, like is it something that exists
when i read that john ashbery often goes six months or so without writing i stopped worrying and learned to love the not, and now i wonder what it is, like is it something that exists
Get out of bed at 3am and write all of the scenarios that are running through my head and making me curse at the fact that I can’t sleep, but that I’m usually too tired/lazy/zombieish/ohiwillrememberittomorrow to write.
Get out of bed at 3am and write all of the scenarios that are running through my head and making me curse at the fact that I can’t sleep, but that I’m usually too tired/lazy/zombieish/ohiwillrememberittomorrow to write.
i dont know if anyone has said that yet, though i dont think its a bad thing to discuss. this post assumes that it is not bullshit, but i dont know what i think really. sometimes i think its a way of being lazy, other times it is hoenstly very hard for me to write.
Good list.
i dont know if anyone has said that yet, though i dont think its a bad thing to discuss. this post assumes that it is not bullshit, but i dont know what i think really. sometimes i think its a way of being lazy, other times it is hoenstly very hard for me to write.
Good list.
Er.
Nope.
After about a year of writer’s block, I really have no idea.
Er.
Nope.
After about a year of writer’s block, I really have no idea.
If a person even wants to write, I bet if they danced or drank or went to foreign place for a short while or read or exercised hard (I mean like lungs bloody tasting hard) or sex or maybe even just going to an apple cider festival, all that, then when they came home and took a bath and divorced their mom, after all that, they would write.
If a person even wants to write, I bet if they danced or drank or went to foreign place for a short while or read or exercised hard (I mean like lungs bloody tasting hard) or sex or maybe even just going to an apple cider festival, all that, then when they came home and took a bath and divorced their mom, after all that, they would write.
If you don’t keep a notebook of random ideas, start. If you get blocked, or feel that what you’re working on isn’t really working, go back and look for a new idea.
Go pick up something of yours that you LOVED, one of your BEST STORIES EVER, and remind yourself that you can do it.
Read somebody else. Either very close to what you’re writing (for tone, mood, setting, etc.) or something VERY different.
Watch really dumb tv. Empty your head.
Do something athletic, I agree with Sean, running, tennis, basketball, whatever.
Climax – alone or with a friend.
Go watch a movie you really love, for the dialog, for the setting and mood, for the content, etc.
If you don’t keep a notebook of random ideas, start. If you get blocked, or feel that what you’re working on isn’t really working, go back and look for a new idea.
Go pick up something of yours that you LOVED, one of your BEST STORIES EVER, and remind yourself that you can do it.
Read somebody else. Either very close to what you’re writing (for tone, mood, setting, etc.) or something VERY different.
Watch really dumb tv. Empty your head.
Do something athletic, I agree with Sean, running, tennis, basketball, whatever.
Climax – alone or with a friend.
Go watch a movie you really love, for the dialog, for the setting and mood, for the content, etc.
I don’t believe in writer’s block. Writing is a process that needs to be respected. Everyone’s process is different, but the bottom line is effort and discipline: effort to sit down and do the work that needs doing; discipline to stick with a regular schedule and (here’s the key) know when it’s time to take a break or quit for the day.
I think what a lot of people tend to call writer’s block is little more than lack of imagination. On the blank page, you can say ANYTHING. First drafts are supposed to be shit. But you can’t revise a blank page. So you write whatever and fix it (or throw it out) later. Even if you toss it, you didn’t waste your time; you were going through the necessary process of brainstorming or pre-writing to get to the good stuff.
So-called writer’s block is also simply having nothing to say. If you don’t know what you’re writing about, like on a compulsory composition assignment or in a story you’re trying to tell for all the wrong reasons, then you’ll have nothing to say. That’s not writer’s block; it’s lack of preparation, inspiration, motivation, insight, etc.
There are writers, and there are blocks. But there is no writer’s block.
I don’t believe in writer’s block. Writing is a process that needs to be respected. Everyone’s process is different, but the bottom line is effort and discipline: effort to sit down and do the work that needs doing; discipline to stick with a regular schedule and (here’s the key) know when it’s time to take a break or quit for the day.
I think what a lot of people tend to call writer’s block is little more than lack of imagination. On the blank page, you can say ANYTHING. First drafts are supposed to be shit. But you can’t revise a blank page. So you write whatever and fix it (or throw it out) later. Even if you toss it, you didn’t waste your time; you were going through the necessary process of brainstorming or pre-writing to get to the good stuff.
So-called writer’s block is also simply having nothing to say. If you don’t know what you’re writing about, like on a compulsory composition assignment or in a story you’re trying to tell for all the wrong reasons, then you’ll have nothing to say. That’s not writer’s block; it’s lack of preparation, inspiration, motivation, insight, etc.
There are writers, and there are blocks. But there is no writer’s block.
i like this. thank you for typing it. i think what i think is that ‘block’ or whatever is also part of the process you describe. like sometimes i need to sit and stare and not write. discipline is good, but i think also not writing is good. like sometimes it is good to just not write a period of time maybe. so i dont think of writers block as a negative thing.
i like this. thank you for typing it. i think what i think is that ‘block’ or whatever is also part of the process you describe. like sometimes i need to sit and stare and not write. discipline is good, but i think also not writing is good. like sometimes it is good to just not write a period of time maybe. so i dont think of writers block as a negative thing.
Definitely, not-writing is part of the writing process. However, I humbly submit, not-writing is not writing by definition. For example, imagine this li’l scene…
Student: “I worked on my paper all last night, but I had some trouble.”
Teacher: “OK. Show me whatcha got, and we’ll figure out where to go from here.”
Student: “Well, I don’t have anything written, but I thought about it a lot.”
Teacher: “And…?”
Student: “I still don’t know what to do.”
Teacher: “Hmmm…”
Definitely, not-writing is part of the writing process. However, I humbly submit, not-writing is not writing by definition. For example, imagine this li’l scene…
Student: “I worked on my paper all last night, but I had some trouble.”
Teacher: “OK. Show me whatcha got, and we’ll figure out where to go from here.”
Student: “Well, I don’t have anything written, but I thought about it a lot.”
Teacher: “And…?”
Student: “I still don’t know what to do.”
Teacher: “Hmmm…”
haha, yeah. no i understand. writersblock as excuse/lazy versus not-writing as process.
haha, yeah. no i understand. writersblock as excuse/lazy versus not-writing as process.
Oh, agreed! Either be writing, or do something else. Why does one have to mean you aren’t doing the other?
When it’s time to write… sit down and start writing. If you move your pen or your fingers on the keys – good or bad – something will come out.
If you sit down to write and there is nothing there… don’t call it writer’s block. Just accept that it’s a good time to do something else. If you find that it’s “time to do something else” more often than it is “time to write,” well, maybe you are less of a “writer” than you were hoping you were. Big deal. Be something else then. There are lots of other great things to be.
There is a sweet spot between passion and discipline… you can learn to find that spot when you want/need to if it is really important to you.
Oh, agreed! Either be writing, or do something else. Why does one have to mean you aren’t doing the other?
When it’s time to write… sit down and start writing. If you move your pen or your fingers on the keys – good or bad – something will come out.
If you sit down to write and there is nothing there… don’t call it writer’s block. Just accept that it’s a good time to do something else. If you find that it’s “time to do something else” more often than it is “time to write,” well, maybe you are less of a “writer” than you were hoping you were. Big deal. Be something else then. There are lots of other great things to be.
There is a sweet spot between passion and discipline… you can learn to find that spot when you want/need to if it is really important to you.
writer’s block is a stupid name, but the phenomenon is real. it has nothing to do with lack of imagination or lack of work ethic — more like the awareness that what you’re imagining or working on isn’t good enough.
jesusangelgarcia’s example doesn’t make any sense to me because it’s not about writers; it’s about students. those groups aren’t mutually exclusive, but there’s a big difference between not turning in a paper and not being able to move forward on something you really want to do.
can you tell i haven’t written much lately?
my record is two years but i’m sure ill break it someday.
it’s [writer’s block] a necessary part of the process. i can’t think of any writers i think are good who haven’t experienced it. when somebody tells me he or she doesn’t, i wonder if he or she has the requisite self-censors to write anything that will kick my ass.
i know that last sentence plays into Amy McDaniels’s masocriticism question from yesterday. my reaction to that — if my ass isn’t kicked, you’re wasting my time and money. ass kicking being a metaphor. figurative language. maybe i’m not blocked anymore.
writer’s block is a stupid name, but the phenomenon is real. it has nothing to do with lack of imagination or lack of work ethic — more like the awareness that what you’re imagining or working on isn’t good enough.
jesusangelgarcia’s example doesn’t make any sense to me because it’s not about writers; it’s about students. those groups aren’t mutually exclusive, but there’s a big difference between not turning in a paper and not being able to move forward on something you really want to do.
can you tell i haven’t written much lately?
my record is two years but i’m sure ill break it someday.
it’s [writer’s block] a necessary part of the process. i can’t think of any writers i think are good who haven’t experienced it. when somebody tells me he or she doesn’t, i wonder if he or she has the requisite self-censors to write anything that will kick my ass.
i know that last sentence plays into Amy McDaniels’s masocriticism question from yesterday. my reaction to that — if my ass isn’t kicked, you’re wasting my time and money. ass kicking being a metaphor. figurative language. maybe i’m not blocked anymore.
yeah i dont like the name of it either.
yeah i dont like the name of it either.
part of it has to do with an understanding of craft, i think. identifying what’s not working and taking the steps to correct it. if you’re working on something you know is not working, the immediate response is you get frustrated, throw up your arms and give up, swear off writing forever, maybe, and thus creating a feeling of anxiety associated with the creative process above and beyond the specific thing you’re working on — implicating the act of writing itself. instead of dealing with practical considerations related to the writing you descent into a whole existential dialogue about the merits of fiction writing, its value, purpose, what you have to add, why anyone continued to write novels after dostoevsky and conrad. i don’t know. probably just me. i like hemingway’s thing about stopping in the middle of a sentence. sometimes all it takes to get you back at it, get back ‘in the zone’ is that one sentence or sharp turn of phrase, and then you’re like ‘fuck ya, lets do this thing.’
part of it has to do with an understanding of craft, i think. identifying what’s not working and taking the steps to correct it. if you’re working on something you know is not working, the immediate response is you get frustrated, throw up your arms and give up, swear off writing forever, maybe, and thus creating a feeling of anxiety associated with the creative process above and beyond the specific thing you’re working on — implicating the act of writing itself. instead of dealing with practical considerations related to the writing you descent into a whole existential dialogue about the merits of fiction writing, its value, purpose, what you have to add, why anyone continued to write novels after dostoevsky and conrad. i don’t know. probably just me. i like hemingway’s thing about stopping in the middle of a sentence. sometimes all it takes to get you back at it, get back ‘in the zone’ is that one sentence or sharp turn of phrase, and then you’re like ‘fuck ya, lets do this thing.’
I’m glad Jonny mentioned the Hemingway. I’ve also found it hugely useful to stop in a place where you can pick up the next day. Scaffolding the story as prep works as well, for me. I use macro and microstructures, storyboarding the narrative with scenes and ideas and phrases and research in file folders within folders, then just pick ’em up, piece together the words, see who’s up to the plate, pitch or swing, just go…
I’m glad Jonny mentioned the Hemingway. I’ve also found it hugely useful to stop in a place where you can pick up the next day. Scaffolding the story as prep works as well, for me. I use macro and microstructures, storyboarding the narrative with scenes and ideas and phrases and research in file folders within folders, then just pick ’em up, piece together the words, see who’s up to the plate, pitch or swing, just go…
maybe this will help (Kerouac’s 30 ways to write via Cantara Christopher on Indiebookman.com: http://www.indiebookman.com/2009/10/commemorating-jack-kerouacs-passing.html)
1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for your own joy
2. Submissive to everything, open, listening
3. Try never get drunk outside your own house
4. Be in love with your life
5. Something that you feel will find its own form
6. Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind
7. Blow as deep as you want to blow
8. Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind
9. The unspeakable visions of the individual
10. No time for poetry but exactly what is
11. Visionary tics shivering in the chest
12. In tranced fixation dreaming upon object before you
13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition
14. Like Proust be an old teahead of time
15. Telling the true story of the world in interior monolog
16. The jewel center of interest is the eye within the eye
17. Write in recollection and amazement for yourself
18. Work from pithy middle eye out, swimming in language sea
19. Accept loss forever
20. Believe in the holy contour of life
21. Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind
22. Don’t think of words when you stop but to see picture better
23. Keep track of every day the date emblazoned in yr morning
24. No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge
25. Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it
26. Bookmovie is the movie in words, the visual American form
27. In praise of Character in the Bleak inhuman Loneliness
28. Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in from under, crazier the better
29. You’re a Genius all the time
30. Writer-Director of Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in Heaven
maybe this will help (Kerouac’s 30 ways to write via Cantara Christopher on Indiebookman.com: http://www.indiebookman.com/2009/10/commemorating-jack-kerouacs-passing.html)
1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for your own joy
2. Submissive to everything, open, listening
3. Try never get drunk outside your own house
4. Be in love with your life
5. Something that you feel will find its own form
6. Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind
7. Blow as deep as you want to blow
8. Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind
9. The unspeakable visions of the individual
10. No time for poetry but exactly what is
11. Visionary tics shivering in the chest
12. In tranced fixation dreaming upon object before you
13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition
14. Like Proust be an old teahead of time
15. Telling the true story of the world in interior monolog
16. The jewel center of interest is the eye within the eye
17. Write in recollection and amazement for yourself
18. Work from pithy middle eye out, swimming in language sea
19. Accept loss forever
20. Believe in the holy contour of life
21. Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind
22. Don’t think of words when you stop but to see picture better
23. Keep track of every day the date emblazoned in yr morning
24. No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge
25. Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it
26. Bookmovie is the movie in words, the visual American form
27. In praise of Character in the Bleak inhuman Loneliness
28. Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in from under, crazier the better
29. You’re a Genius all the time
30. Writer-Director of Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in Heaven
i read stuff written by other people and realize that everyone who writes anything is always just writing with writers block
that, or i comment on htmlgiant
i read stuff written by other people and realize that everyone who writes anything is always just writing with writers block
that, or i comment on htmlgiant
exactly… be who you are in the moment, or just be. find the sweet spot, the middle ground, then dig deep.
exactly… be who you are in the moment, or just be. find the sweet spot, the middle ground, then dig deep.
Weed.
Weed.
This is a good list
Christian, #29
This is a good list
Christian, #29
i like your student’s idea of eating a snack.
chocolate pudding
snickers ice cream bars
cheese cubes
strawberries
ham and cheese sandwiches
but writers block. i dont know. maybe find some lit blog and type stupid shit in their comments section until something hits you.
i like your student’s idea of eating a snack.
chocolate pudding
snickers ice cream bars
cheese cubes
strawberries
ham and cheese sandwiches
but writers block. i dont know. maybe find some lit blog and type stupid shit in their comments section until something hits you.
I think writer’s block happens when we refuse to acknowledge some fundamental truth about our own work. Maybe “refuse” isn’t the right word there — sometimes we are just not ready, or emotionally mature enough to make the necessary realization. That happens all the time. It’s a symptom of being alive.
Here are two useful approaches that I have found. Identify an author who is in your way. Like, oh, I could totally write this story if only so-and-so hadn’t already written such-and-such. Re-read that work. Then type that work. Literally, re-type it, word for word, or at least a good chunk of it. Exorcise it by planting those words into your brain, so you can move on. And getting your fingers moving across the keyboard is a way of tricking yourself into continuing.
Then, also, an exercise drawn from an essay called “Violation” by Sallie Tisdale, published in Tin House back in 2001, I think. “I can’t write about [blank] because [blank].” Complete the sentence. Then ditch the first part — it’s all about the “because.” Start there. Write about that.
I agree with the commentators above who say that writer’s block is a stupid name. We are writers, for Christ’s sake — you know, people who are supposed to be good with words — and that’s the best we can come up with? Writer’s block? Crap image, totally crap. I prefer “writer’s congestion.” Like a head-cold, it will pass. Or “writer’s denial,” which is closer to the psychological truth of it, for me.
I think writer’s block happens when we refuse to acknowledge some fundamental truth about our own work. Maybe “refuse” isn’t the right word there — sometimes we are just not ready, or emotionally mature enough to make the necessary realization. That happens all the time. It’s a symptom of being alive.
Here are two useful approaches that I have found. Identify an author who is in your way. Like, oh, I could totally write this story if only so-and-so hadn’t already written such-and-such. Re-read that work. Then type that work. Literally, re-type it, word for word, or at least a good chunk of it. Exorcise it by planting those words into your brain, so you can move on. And getting your fingers moving across the keyboard is a way of tricking yourself into continuing.
Then, also, an exercise drawn from an essay called “Violation” by Sallie Tisdale, published in Tin House back in 2001, I think. “I can’t write about [blank] because [blank].” Complete the sentence. Then ditch the first part — it’s all about the “because.” Start there. Write about that.
I agree with the commentators above who say that writer’s block is a stupid name. We are writers, for Christ’s sake — you know, people who are supposed to be good with words — and that’s the best we can come up with? Writer’s block? Crap image, totally crap. I prefer “writer’s congestion.” Like a head-cold, it will pass. Or “writer’s denial,” which is closer to the psychological truth of it, for me.
Very nice. I dig that.
Very nice. I dig that.
i like what nancy says here in her first paragraph. i have certain sentences that ive typed that end up stopping afterwards and later i think i havetrouble going on because i dont konw if im ‘mature’ enough or ‘ready’ or whatever to write the next sentence. i mean either im not prepared to put together the right combination of words or im not able to get at the emotional thing of what that combiantion of words is. im not trying to separate the two, but often i think i dont know enough or havent yet found the right way to put words together. i mean, i know you cant write without trying, but not-writing can be a form of trying in a weird way? i dont konw if that makes sese. ive been thinking about this since posting it and am still trying to figure it ou.
i like what nancy says here in her first paragraph. i have certain sentences that ive typed that end up stopping afterwards and later i think i havetrouble going on because i dont konw if im ‘mature’ enough or ‘ready’ or whatever to write the next sentence. i mean either im not prepared to put together the right combination of words or im not able to get at the emotional thing of what that combiantion of words is. im not trying to separate the two, but often i think i dont know enough or havent yet found the right way to put words together. i mean, i know you cant write without trying, but not-writing can be a form of trying in a weird way? i dont konw if that makes sese. ive been thinking about this since posting it and am still trying to figure it ou.
Generally, if I can’t write something it’s because I’m trying to write the wrong thing. Questioning assumptions, like: “I can’t write this story well” might actually mean “this isn’t a good story.”
Generally, if I can’t write something it’s because I’m trying to write the wrong thing. Questioning assumptions, like: “I can’t write this story well” might actually mean “this isn’t a good story.”
I once killed somebody to overcome writer’s block. This was long ago.
In another lifetime I was staying in a very seedy hotel in a very edgy part of the city. I don’t remember how I became aware of the fact, but somehow I got wind that the new tenant–a pudgy, nervous looking man– was a registered sex offender. Apparently he was a “known child molester”. I didn’t know this but because I have serious issues with child molestation I made it my business to find out if all that was being whispered, sneered and yelled about this guy was true. Because people were always talkin’ shit about other people in the building. One day when this guy was out and down the block, I broke into this guy’s room to have a little look-see. His room was a disgusting mess and I felt like throwing up. I actually did throw up a little in my mouth when I discovered the photos he had hidden, of all obvious places, in his stained mattress. My daughter hadn’t been born yet but she would be this age someday and I’ll be goddamned if I was going to let this piece of human waste predator ever violate another innocent again. In those days I always carried latex rubber gloves. Don’t ask. A few nights after my discovery I had hidden myself in this devil’s room when I knew he had gone out earlier. I had become familiar with some of his patterns now and knew that he got paid at a certain time of the month. And when he got paid, he went out and got hammered. Tonight he would literally get hammered. I think it was around 1 am or so when he came stumbling back to his filthy room. I remember hearing him fart as he pissed. I don’t recall whether he flushed the toilet or not but I do remember hearing the bed start to squeak ever so lightly as he had laid down and begun to masturbate. The room filled with his dank alcohol breath and it was all I could do to keep from vomiting within the nasty closet I was hiding in. I cracked the door ever so lightly and peered through the darkness to see him holding one of the photos I had discovered earlier. The garish, multicolored lights from the street shone through the window across his form in sickly illumination. Seeing this made my head swim and I almost dropped the hammer. As if in a dream, I burst from the closet and glided across the room so fast he didn’t know what hit him. In retrospect I’m still amazed that I wielded the hammer with such precision in the intoxicating darkness of his room, which was probably more lit up than I realized. I barely remember (and I’ll never forget) how I brought that hammer down right in the middle of his forehead and how his head and skull felt like a soft melon giving way underneath that hammer head. There was no sound but I remember his body jerking and then being still. That fast it was over.
When I returned to my room and sat down at my old Powerbook to type it was like a floodgate had been opened. You should have seen how sweaty my hands were when I finally peeled those gloves off. Ever since my daughter was born, I have long since stopped using this method to overcome writer’s block. My daughter is a young adult now. I now paint much more than I write.
I once killed somebody to overcome writer’s block. This was long ago.
In another lifetime I was staying in a very seedy hotel in a very edgy part of the city. I don’t remember how I became aware of the fact, but somehow I got wind that the new tenant–a pudgy, nervous looking man– was a registered sex offender. Apparently he was a “known child molester”. I didn’t know this but because I have serious issues with child molestation I made it my business to find out if all that was being whispered, sneered and yelled about this guy was true. Because people were always talkin’ shit about other people in the building. One day when this guy was out and down the block, I broke into this guy’s room to have a little look-see. His room was a disgusting mess and I felt like throwing up. I actually did throw up a little in my mouth when I discovered the photos he had hidden, of all obvious places, in his stained mattress. My daughter hadn’t been born yet but she would be this age someday and I’ll be goddamned if I was going to let this piece of human waste predator ever violate another innocent again. In those days I always carried latex rubber gloves. Don’t ask. A few nights after my discovery I had hidden myself in this devil’s room when I knew he had gone out earlier. I had become familiar with some of his patterns now and knew that he got paid at a certain time of the month. And when he got paid, he went out and got hammered. Tonight he would literally get hammered. I think it was around 1 am or so when he came stumbling back to his filthy room. I remember hearing him fart as he pissed. I don’t recall whether he flushed the toilet or not but I do remember hearing the bed start to squeak ever so lightly as he had laid down and begun to masturbate. The room filled with his dank alcohol breath and it was all I could do to keep from vomiting within the nasty closet I was hiding in. I cracked the door ever so lightly and peered through the darkness to see him holding one of the photos I had discovered earlier. The garish, multicolored lights from the street shone through the window across his form in sickly illumination. Seeing this made my head swim and I almost dropped the hammer. As if in a dream, I burst from the closet and glided across the room so fast he didn’t know what hit him. In retrospect I’m still amazed that I wielded the hammer with such precision in the intoxicating darkness of his room, which was probably more lit up than I realized. I barely remember (and I’ll never forget) how I brought that hammer down right in the middle of his forehead and how his head and skull felt like a soft melon giving way underneath that hammer head. There was no sound but I remember his body jerking and then being still. That fast it was over.
When I returned to my room and sat down at my old Powerbook to type it was like a floodgate had been opened. You should have seen how sweaty my hands were when I finally peeled those gloves off. Ever since my daughter was born, I have long since stopped using this method to overcome writer’s block. My daughter is a young adult now. I now paint much more than I write.
second this.
second this.
Don’t be afraid to write crap.
Don’t be afraid to write crap.
i don’t really write much or much worth reading in september and in parts of march and most of april.
generally if i can’t write i rewrite, since most of my work gets slowly worked on over a period of time until it’s done.
that’s just the process i use.
sometimes if i can’t think of anything i write i sit down and just type until something seems to happen, then i print it out and cross out anything that’s shit.
sometimes i go out back and set poems i don’t like on fire. as a lesson.
i don’t really write much or much worth reading in september and in parts of march and most of april.
generally if i can’t write i rewrite, since most of my work gets slowly worked on over a period of time until it’s done.
that’s just the process i use.
sometimes if i can’t think of anything i write i sit down and just type until something seems to happen, then i print it out and cross out anything that’s shit.
sometimes i go out back and set poems i don’t like on fire. as a lesson.
well said
crap, i’ve written my share
well said
crap, i’ve written my share
Late to this party, but here’s what I do:
I buy a magazine about something I don’t think I care about at all. Motorcycles, weddings, needlepoint, hunting, parenting, etc. The connections that spring to mind from a single article almost always get my brain going in some way that I want to capture. Sometimes it’s just angry disagreement with the priorities of the writer or magazine, but more often it’s a completely new brain path mapping, a “holy shit, these craft project people are onto something…” or “if my character knew about this stuff from his teenage years…” and bang, I’m off.
Late to this party, but here’s what I do:
I buy a magazine about something I don’t think I care about at all. Motorcycles, weddings, needlepoint, hunting, parenting, etc. The connections that spring to mind from a single article almost always get my brain going in some way that I want to capture. Sometimes it’s just angry disagreement with the priorities of the writer or magazine, but more often it’s a completely new brain path mapping, a “holy shit, these craft project people are onto something…” or “if my character knew about this stuff from his teenage years…” and bang, I’m off.
Agreed.
“…You, you, you oughta know..”
~ALANIS MORISSETTE
Agreed.
“…You, you, you oughta know..”
~ALANIS MORISSETTE
Oh, stfu. Just kidding. That’s brilliant, actually. I’m going to go buy the latest issue of “Popular Nutjobs” and see if any red flags…er…I mean, gunshot noises are heard.
Oh, stfu. Just kidding. That’s brilliant, actually. I’m going to go buy the latest issue of “Popular Nutjobs” and see if any red flags…er…I mean, gunshot noises are heard.
Oh WORD!
For example!
Oh WORD!
For example!