Nothing, Nada, Nil
Nothing. Nada. Nil. No words. No sentences. No structure. No story.
The characters are having amazing dialogue. The scenes are set and the story is all coming together and yet…
For some reason I just can’t seem to get it written. Everything is coming together nicely, but only in my head.
Ever have that problem?
I can’t say it’s writer’s block, because I know the story. And yet it isn’t exactly procrastination. So what is it?
I sit down at the computer and open my work in progress and…Nothing. Nothing wants to be written.
I sit down with a notebook and pen and…Nada. Nil.
So help me out.
What do you do when you stare at your work in progress and yet can’t seem to write anything?
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- Posted in: A to Z Challenge ♦ challenges ♦ Uncategorized
- Tagged: "N", atoz, atoz challenge, nada, nil, nothing, procrastination, story, wip, writing
karensdifferentcorners 
I’m sorry to read that the inspiration isn’t flowing for you, Karen. I just know that whatever it is in your head that wants out on the screen, it’s going to be great!
For me, when I’m stuck like that, I just go back and reread what I’ve written. It gets my juices flowing, so to speak. 🙂 If I haven’t written anything down yet, I simply type what I’ve got in my head no matter how silly it might read back to me, and then close it for the day. Then I open it the next day and reread what I’ve written and hopefully things get flowing. It usually does. If it doesn’t, that means it needs more time to “ferment”.
And I always remember some sage advice from an editor from long ago…stories are written in the rewrites. It helps to know that. 😉
I hope that can help you.
xoxoxox
Cat
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Hi Cat! I think one of my problems is that I can’t seem to shut up the inner editor in me and it gets frustrating. It’s not that the ideas aren’t there and some are even written down on paper, but the minute I start typing them up, I might get one or two sentences done and can’t seem to keep going without going back through them and rewriting them, More than once! LOL
Hugs to you Cat. Hoping you are having a wonderful week.
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That’s a tough one. I personally when I get a bit stuck for no apparent reason will have half and hour on the x-box! Playing a simple game that I don’t have to think about. It keeps the organised side of the brain busy while the creative side can mull things over for a bit. I can go back to work refreshed. Most of the time it works for me. It’s a trick I adapted from a book called “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”. Sometimes you just need to distract yourself a bit!
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I do distract myself, like writing blog posts or playing games here on my computer, but…Then I feel I need to get up and walk away from the computer, instead of writing.
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I hope someone comes up with a solution – there’s been a couple of great ideas on here so far! 🙂
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I have to go with what Cat says–reread existing words, and force it out, even if it’s awful. Writing begets writing.
Now, how to get myself to stop procrastinating and do the revisions!
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I know about procrastinating when it comes to revisions! I’m pretty good at that, procrastinating, that is! 🙂
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I’m so good at it, I should make my “P” post on procrastinating. But it doesn’t fit my theme, so. . .
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Haha! Hi Rebecca.
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What I do is write anything — a shopping list, random words, just type away like crazy until my brain accepts the writing part and eventually random words turn into coherent sentences, paragraphs, etc.
Silvia @
SilviaWrites
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Funny you say that, I did write a grocery list today, along with a list of my bills, and a to-do list, but then I had to take care of those and my blog post for tomorrow, so no writing-writing. 🙂
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Leave it alone and go for a walk or shopping and come back refreshed, or sit and fill the page with nonsense and expect to throw it out at the end of the day, which sometimes leads to surprises.
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I’ll have to try the page full of nonsense and see what happens. 🙂
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ooh! A page of nonsense, what a great idea Kelly. Have you heard of Julia Cameron?! She suggests writing “morning pages” Just 2 or 3 pages of nonsense that clears your head for the day ahead….:)
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I am certainly no one to give advice on writing. My muse has only recently return– for a visit perhaps. What I do when I want a story to move is move my writing to something farther into the story and write it. I’ve been known to write the ending halfway through because I’m stuck.That often spurs the juices and filling in the gap is easier than staring. Good lucky Karen.
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Hi Dannie The beginning and the ending are the easy parts, it’s the filling in the middle that gets a little sticky! 🙂
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