I’ve been in work-avoidance mode the last few days. A day of this I don’t mind. That’s a mini-vacation. When these modes have me (and it’s definitely them having me rather than vice versa) for half a week … ugh.
You know how it is, especially if you’re a creative problem solver.
Those of you who are just super-efficient all the damn time, I salute you. And I hate you.
But for the rest of us … there’s the long slide into self doubt. You’re no good. You can’t do this. You’re just a lazy b*tch. Fantasies of quitting the biz and making my living as a non-religious hermit nun waft through my head. I attempt to force myself to write, which is what all those how-toing writers tell us all to do; but anything I produce that way is crap and the production is agonizing. Never do I break through using “apply pants to seat and write” methodology.
I know intellectually that these dreadful doldrums have a purpose. I know they are times when the hindbrain is working on something and hasn’t let the forebrain know yet.
But they do only happen when I walk away from the computer.
An hour ago it was washing dishes. I’d been struggling with the promised RebelFire story, stumbling over tricky technical details (on which I have help from a generous expert who also consulted back when on the RF book) and stumbling over plot pits (on which no one in the world can help). I’d written a couple of dialogs. But dialog is easy. It’s what I do best and occasionally starting a dialog passage leads to action. Most of the time it dead-ends.
So with the hot water running over my hands and looking out the window at the rain, I realized I needed to drop my characters right in the thick of things, and (as many a writer has done before) see where the characters lead me. Lead, literally, in this case, because they’re going somewhere. And the somewhere is full of dangers.
It’s too early to know whether this will work, but after a page and a half of longhand writing (always better for the brain than keyboarding), I blocked out solutions to the main plot points in that section of the story.
Now, if there were only some easier way to get there.
It occurs to me that there was one brilliant pop writer whose books were almost entirely in dialog: Gregory Mcdonald, creator of Fletch. Nobody else has created fiction where things really happened mostly just via characters talking.
I’d do that if I could, though.
Stop flogging yourself, and if you feel you Must do something, do something else that you can focus on. I get ‘stuck’ frequently, but never lack energy to do something else. It always ends eventually and the brain restarts, but back when I felt guilty about it, it seemed to be harder to get back to functioning. (Guilt sucks)
It’s like Jerry Reed’s song lyrics – “when you’re hot, You’re hot, when you’re not, you’re not”.
I fear that beating up on oneself is an inborn part of this process. Unproductive, yes. But inescapable. You’re right about everything, though.
And I do wander off and do other things. I made a lot of progress on the ceiling this week.
So, I’m not the only one avoiding work? My problem is a little different.
The book wasn’t quite right; I realized I needed to add a new chapter 1. A lot of work, but I got it done. I lightly edited the next two chapters to take advantage of the new material. Then I made a mistake. I re-read the first three chapters. And stopped.
They are so good that I’m paralyzed by anxiety. What if the rest doesn’t live up to the new standard?
I put it aside, distracting myself by designing a new backyard project.
But I have to get my butt back in the chair.
I’ve read a couple of writers who can tell stories with dialogue. I’ve pulled it off myself, but only in flash fiction, 500 or 250-word stories. Difficult.
It’s impossible for me to write longhand. I can’t get past the “I’m just going to have to retype this stuff” thing.
Good luck on getting your muse to wake up. Mine is part sadist. I’ll hit a day when I’m up to my elbows in things that need doing, and she’ll get all “YOU HAVE TO WRITE RIGHT NOW OR I’LL NEVER SPEAK TO YOU AGAIN!” Then I’ll wake up with a whole day free, and she’ll be, “Who? [yawn] Me?”
I’m not a writer (of fiction; i write lots of other stuff), but I have heard that some of the best writers have multiple projects going at the same time. When they hit a roadblock on one they switch to another and allow the “hindbrain” to do its thing. I guess that’s why their estates often have several unfinished works which sometimes get published by a literary executor (viz. Heinlein, Terry Pratchett, and David Foster Wallace).
And although it’s not fiction, when I have something I need to write and can’t put it off any longer I generally just start writing. It may be unusable but it gets the juices flowing until something decent comes out. And I much prefer composing at the keyboard; i hate longhand!
Being a real man, I can avoid work. You can, too. http://masculinebooks.com/2017/10/30/how-to-fight-procrastination-you-dont-according-to-nassim-taleb/
You simply can’t write well if you’re fighting with your unconscious. Allowing things to bubble to the surface seems to work best. I’ve heard songwriters say they wrote a bit hit in relatively few minutes.
Great article. I’ve even read Antifragile thanks to a friend. Guess I should revisit.
“Do you really need to do it?
“Do the benefits outweigh the costs?”
But those are tricky and not necessarily clear-cut questions.
My thoughts on getting stuck: Kill someone off. Violently. See what happens. Move on. Made it through writing eight books that way.
“Procrastination” is a Job Culture phenomenon, since the Industrial Revolution when men and women were forced to produce at a given rate. Before that, farmers, shopkeepers, craftsmen, professionals, artists, writers took business as it came to them.
They did what they did out of love or necessity (or money), but they rarely tried to force creativity. Can you imagine Thoreau feeling the need to push himself to write (or even to forage to eat)?
Pat — I need to practice what I preach — once again.
joemedic — Erm … I’m glad you clarified that in your second paragraph. I may just try that …
FYI, for those who care, Paladin Press is now at 85% off sales.
I’ve always found when I hit a wall just taking the next step is the key and I am thru now sometimes I take the wrong step but at least the wall ain’t the issue no more.