Writer's Block: One
Solution
Do you ever suffer from Writer's Block? I can think of few
things more frustrating, unless it's looking for the exact word you need and
can't quickly find!
I'm fortunate in that I've never faced a blank page and
wondered what to put on it, but I have faced a major Writer's Block and thought
I'd share my solution. I imagine every writer faces Writer's Block at one time
or another, of one type or another, and every writer has her own way to go
over, around, or through the block. Here's mine.
A few years ago, I was just finishing a novel and knew I was
within a couple of chapters of the end but I just couldn't get that ending to
come. I fussed. I fretted. I went out to lunch with a gentleman I knew. He is a
bit self-centered, and condescending, so we're no longer dating, but he did
give me one piece of great advice. When he asked with his usual snideness how
my novel was coming, I told him my problem, that I just wasn't getting the
ending. In a very smart asterisk manner, he told me to send my character an
email and let her email me back.
Yeah. Right. Hmmmmmmm?
So, that night, before I turned off the computer and went to
bed, I wrote the protagonist a note and sent it to her in care of my email
address, turned off the lights and went to bed for a sound sleep. The next
morning I got up and in going through my emails came to the one I'd sent my
character. Now, she obviously didn't respond. (Not sure I would have wanted
that, actually) but suddenly, I saw the ending of the novel, and finished it
that day. Or at least that draft.
The next time I saw my friend, I thanked him for his
suggestion, and told him it worked. He was somewhat taken aback, and admitted
he was being a smart asterisk with his response to me. "I know," I
said, and smiled sweetly, "but it worked, and I thank you." We no
longer date, so who knows what words of wisdom I'm missing, but that solution
to my Writer's Block worked and I've not forgotten. It worked for me. It might
work for you.
If you've ever faced Writer's Block, and found a way to
unblock it, I'd love to read your experience. Maybe it will help some of the
other readers.
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