DU writers: what's your favorite way to avoid actually, you know, writing?

[LiberalHeart]

Finished a book a week and a half ago and am having a heck of a time getting back to work ... all kinds of excuses and diversions. Maybe a better question is: How do you make yourself write when everything in you is resisting it?

[Droopy]

1. "How do you make yourself write when everything in you is resisting it?"

You don't. It's got to come because you feel compelled to write. If you force it, it will probably suck.

I've never written a book, but I do write short stories when the mood strikes me. I quit writing for 6 months one time. I just couldn't do it for some reason. Now, if you have to write for professional reasons then I guess you don't have a choice. Sorry I don't have any better advice.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear LiberalHeart...

I'm with Droopy...

Forcing it, for me, leads to writing crap.

I have to be really emotionally involved in something to want to write about it...

But I write poetry, and this is much different from writing a book.

Sorry I can't really help.

Good luck!

:hi:

[pitohui]

3. i actually have an assignment i'm avoiding right now

sigh, the day can't come soon enough when i don't need this extra source of income, so i guess i am not helpful either

if the thing must be written, the only way to start is to start, i usually try to push up my deadline from the "real" deadline and pretend the earlier deadline is real to sort of trick myself to get off my stick

if there is no assignment, i say listen to the advice of others and find something to do w. your free time that you actually enjoy -- one week and one half of rest after completing AN ENTIRE BOOK does not sound like an unreasonable amount of downtime to me

[knixphan]

4. Screenplay

I'm a film cat, but the same issues come up for me...

One thing that helps, is activity. Running, walking, basketball, volleyball...breaking a sweat really helps my brain float into 'daydreamy' states - your mileage may vary with that.

Also, 70% of my most recent screenplay was actually 'written' by conversations I had with my writing partner. We end up talking out most of the stuff we want to see onscreen, and then it's out there - I just have to jot down the minutes of the meeting, and the scenes are there...just in need of polish-

[LiberalHeart]

14. I wrote a couple of books with a partner and it was great...

No writer's block, just lots of mutual support.

[HEyHEY]

5. Look at my bank account

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. You write anyway. Screw the "muse" - the muse comes by forcing it.

On the other hand, if you've just finished a giant writing project, like a book, maybe your brain needs a few weeks to rest down and recuperate.

But I find that those who write as more than a hobby who say "I can only write when the mood comes" are just lazy, and like to find excuses for not doing their work.

(those who write as a hobby can play the muse card all they want, since it's just a hobby anyway for them; sort of like how I view golf - I love to play, but if I'm not in the mood, I do something else).

If you're a writer, you write. Mood is, to quote Gurney Halleck, a thing for cattle.

[Chan790]

7. DU and Morrowind are how I avoid writing.

cigarettes, bourbon, espresso and patio areas where I can camp with my laptop that don't offer wifi are how I get my write on.

[Liberalynn]

8. Playing Pogo or Hanging out at DU

I've heard professional writers say in interviews that you have to look at it as an honest to goodness "job." They say that if you "work in an office, you can't just decide that you don't want to go in, because you don't feel like it, or you wouldn't have a job very long.

I should follow this advice myself but I don't.

[CreekDog]

9. Posting lounge threads

don't pretend you don't know this! :spank: :rofl:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

10. Are you kidding?

Talk with your agent. That's the person who always gets me off the ceiling whenever I'd finish a project and then start berating myself for not immediately starting another one.

Vacation time, my friend (ah, yes, using that phrase makes me feel so much like a POW, I just can't stop). Time to kick back and do nothing. Time to read all the books you put aside while you wrote yours. Time to wait to hear from the publisher that it's a work of genius or that it sucks and will not get you out of your contract.

Then, and only then, do you have to go back to work. Until then, play, dance, frolic, make love, make wine, make a nice, big cheesecake. Just have fun.

It's the hardest time, finishing a project, at least for me - and it's also the best until the day the box arrives from the publisher with the actual book inside. That's always the best time.

[Lyric]

11. I go find the most controversial, flamebait thread in GD

and I spend ten minutes writing my heart out about my own fervent beliefs on the matter. That "breaks the ice" for me, and I can glide naturally into writing whatever else needs to be done.

Good luck to you. :hug:

[LiberalHeart]

13. LOL n/t

[LiberalHeart]

12. Lots of good comments here ... thanks .... here's my situation:

1. I have to write to survive.

2. The muse is there only if I write; I don't wait, normally. I write and then that "voice" starts telling me the story.

3. Years ago I went through this and spent time with rituals: First, I had to sharpen pencils (but now, of course, it's a keyboard and I can't sharpen that). Then I had to have the house sparkling clean. Then I had to have myself sparkling clean. Then I had to get the chair adjusted just so. Then I had to have precisely the right lighting. And then I'd remember I hadn't eaten and I'd go out to a restaurant. By then I was way too tired to write.

4. Finishing a project is usually the best time, an up tick in mood. Finishing this one was a real downer. I'm in a funk. It's not that I think the book is lousy; I actually think it's one of my better ones. The downer may be from having set a self-imposed deadline then being obsessive-compulsive about meeting it -- to the point that I was working nearly around the clock for a few days.

5. Yes, I do know that posting in the DU lounge is an excellent avoidance tactic.

6. All of a sudden I feel motivated to write. Thanks, all.

[knixphan]

15. great column on Rossio's site, 'wordplayer'

http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp03.Beachcombing.html

[Jamastiene]

16. Spend time around your family, especially those who

constantly want you to do things for them. Continue to be their go-for for as long as they keep you busy. Eventually, you will reach a point where all you want to do is write. They will not know that, but even if they do, they won't care. They will continue to work you to death while you long for a chance to go off by yourself and write until your heart is content. By the time you get away from them, you will be thankful for the chance to sit and write. You may even write a novel about vengeance while you try to erase the memory of being a family member and/or friend's go-for for as long as they can use the hell out of you.

I know that is what is in the back of my mind right now. All I want is some time to myself to get my computer desk built and my room moved around so I can work. I barely have time to even think it through. It's the damn "honey, do" list that's killing me. There's no end in sight.

[Shiver]

17. Unless there's a general lull in the campaign...

I'm essentially museless until November unless I disable my internet connection and get far away from the TV. Sitting outside and smoking seems to help too, for some reason.

Only two things can really distract me from writing: Cute redheads and politics.

[knixphan]

18. You have the cute redhead problem too?

Thought it was just me.

[Shiver]

20. You're not alone

It's a habit that's impossible to kick, and I'm pretty sure I don't want to.

[nomorenomore08]

19. During the day, it's aimless web-surfing/DU-surfing by far.

During the evening, it's hanging out with friends drinking beer (or wine, or whiskey) and getting high.

Combine all this together, and it's no wonder that, despite being jobless since I graduated college in June '07, I've only averaged about half a page of writing a day. My 115-page, self-published novella took me 8 months, for Christ's sake, and I was working on virtually nothing else during that time.