Some days, words seem to be stuck in glue. Despite great effort, I just can’t seem to get them arranged with any eloquence. Sentences read like thesaurus safaris. Ideas lean against each other in strange formations resembling Stonehenge: purposefully designed yet incomprehensible.
Today is one of those days. I just spent an hour flogging myself to complete a whopping three paragraphs.
When I get stuck like this, I find the problem (and solution) is usually one of the following:
- I’m out of practice. Even a few days off will cause me to forget my native language. The best solution is simply to keep on writing. Wax on. Wax off.
- I’m not reading enough. Reading is the fifth food group for writers
- I don’t know what I want to write or where I’m going, so I fuss over the details. Sometimes, ploughing ahead is still a good remedy — stop worrying about the details and listen for the story to tell itself. For me, switching to dialog often works as that’s more natural for me. If all else fails, I’ll go for a walk or switch to another project (say, blogging about writing).
- I’m trying too hard. When obstinate perfectionism rears its ugly head, it’s time to bust out the BFG of mind games: rewriting the piece in the style of a five year old. For extra potency, tape thumb tacks upside-down on the punctuation keys. Nothing says flow like a five page run-on sentence. Of course, I never have finished a run-on — somewhere in the midst of being five years old, I remember how to tell a story.
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December 5th, 2005
by Laurie Thompson
Thanks for this great post, Rob! THOSE words are arranged with sublime eloquence. I especially love the Stonehenge analogy, because that is exactly how I felt about almost all of my first drafts. And since I’m mostly trying to write FOR 5-year-olds, the BFG you mentioned should be an even bigger help for me than it is for you! BTW, I’ve found lots of great stuff on your blog. Please keep on blogging (but not to the detriment of your other work, of course)! You’re awesome.