Getting my writing mojo back

Thanks for this post. I have never found blogging easy. Before I began my blog I felt like there was so much to say that I just had to write about it. Then I started the blog and found myself out of ideas entirely. At first I thought that I'd like it more if I were a 'real' writer. Then I thought I had nothing to say. It's not easy to put yourself out there, but once I did I found that it was worth the pain. Without my blog I would still feel isolated and somehow broken. Writing my blog helped me to find the like-minded souls who inspire me.

CJ

http://halflifecrisis.com

You wrote:  '...And that I have a partner who can spell, since half the time spell check is like,"dude, seriously.  WTF are you trying spell?"'

BAHAHAAAHAAAAA!!!!  Awesome!

And:   "...it is a hold over from my school days, which just adds to my general insecurity about my writing ability. You are also right that my style is, my style.  Again, here the insecurity stems from my days in school, struggling through english classes..." 

Personally, I think you're a fabulous writer, and I'm quite confident that everyone here would agree wholeheartedly.  

Did you know Tori Amos was kicked out of Julliard? Her music didn't follow their rules.  Somehow, I think she did just fine. (Crap, there's that word again...)

Rock on, Zoe.

--KW

I had this incredible writing teacher back in college (we'll ignore how long ago that was) who taught a wonderful first class to her Writing for the Theatre Affiliate course.  It may well have been one of the most important hours of learning about writing that I've ever spent. 

The professor's name was Barbara Adams, a graduate of USC.  What she did on that first real day of class - and by that I mean the first day she actually taught vs. the first actual day where we went over the syllabus - was stand in front of a white board with a marker and ask us to holler out all the rules of writing we'd been taught over the years. 

We shouted out things like:

"Each sentence must have a noun a verb a subject and a predicate!"

"I before E except after C!"

"Don't use semicolons!"

"Never use run ons!"

"Avoid exclamation points at all costs!"

"Never use incomplete sentences!" 

Etc., etc., etc.  

So Dr. Adams wrote all that stuff up on the board in black marker.  Then she picked up a red marker and proceeded to provide examples of how each statement could be ignored.  With each example, she drew a red line through the statement she had addressed.  When she was done there was only one left on the board:  "I before E except after C."  This one was deemed valid because it was about spelling and not grammar.  

Then she taught us how to use semicolons. 

Her point was not that grammar is unimportant, of course, but that once we understood the reasoning behind it, grammar could be set aside for the purpose of cultivating voice. That course was actually quite format intensive overall, but that one class session set me free as both a creative writer because I was no longer bound by rules of writing that simply don't reflect the ways in which we speak - and thus "hear" what we read and write.  As an actor it allowed me to stop reciting and start interacting like a human being instead of a good reader. 

Sure, when I write academically, I get far more strict about how I structure my sentences and all of that - but for stuff like blogging or story telling, and certainly where dialogue is concerned, I pretty much ignore everything I ever learned about grammar because it has a way of formalizing the tone of the piece outside of human experience - which includes inflection and emotion and subtext and all of that good stuff. 

Fun Fact:  I won a competition on diagramming sentences in Jr. High, so it's not like I can't appreciate the beauty of well executed sentence structure.  : )  

Side note - I had to smile to myself when I read about your addiction to the word "just" in your reply.  I share the addiction to that particular word, as well as to "so."  When screenwriting, I always do a pass through circling only those two words so I can cut, cut, cut them out wherever possible.  (Then I do about a hundred more passes for other fun stuff like "realizes," "understands," yadda-yadda, since you can't actually see those things happening on the screen - but now I'm just nit-picking my own process...)

Curious - what happens if you drop the filters and just (oh Lord, there's that word again) write all the private thoughts out?  Does it clear the way for the public writing or clutter your emotions up even more? For me, it helps - but everybody's different.  Just curious.  Just. 

Just, just. 

So. 

Just so. 

So I guess it's just so, so I'll just...go. 

Three cheers for mojo!

Yep, I'm in that things going on in my life that I don't want to share boat. But you are absolutely right, writing when it's easy doen't take much as skill. 

I do need to strech myself a bit.  I think, I should say I know, I've gotten comfotable and lazy.   I need to get off my lazy mouse and challenge myself.  The letting go of perfectionsm has always been difficult.  When I get stuck in it, which is often, I try to remember a saying I picked up from a friend, "It's good enough for who it's for. We're not building a church."

Thanks for the advice. 

I gladly welcome your 5 cents worth.

Yes, there are a lot of thoughts rattling around up in my brain which are clogging up the works.  They are thoughts which are pretty much consuming me at this time, but they are not thoughts that I am wanting, or ready to share right now.  So, until I get some this stuff worked out, I think writing, at least writing anything too heavy or deep, will be a struggle. 

Moving on...I agree, thank god we live in the age of spell check.  And that I have a partner who can spell, since half the time spell check is like,"dude, seriously.  WTF are you trying spell?" I only threw my problem with spelling in there because it is a hold over from my school days, which just adds to my general insecurity about my writing ability.

You are also right that my style is, my style.  Again, here the insecurity stems from my days in school, struggling through english classes.  I was, hell still am, horrible at grammer.  So, I always think that people reading my stuff must just be cringing at the mess of it all.   And have you noticed that I love to use the word "just."  I don't think I could write a post without it.

I do carry a notebook that I write, or used to write, post ideas down in so I wouldn't forget them.  Memory is an issue for me, I've had a bit too much fun in my lifetime. It might be time to revive it.  Betty Please has suggested I carry around a little recordor so I can record random thoughts as they pop into my head.  It might be time to do these things so I at least have some prompts so I can get back to writing.

We've got a bit of anxiety and some big decsions to make at my house too.  I'm not wanting to share what's going on, but it's consuming my thoughts.  So, I can certainly empathize with you on stress induced writers block.     

I hope the cause of your anxiety is soon alleviated.  

Speaking of being distracted by shiny things...how is girl supposed to write when there is a brand new PS3 in her entainment center, just begging to be played.  I've got the devil sitting on my on my soulder whispering in my ear, "just play for one game, then you can write."  Only it's never just one game, is it.  And let's not even talk about mafia wars on facebook.  That game was clearly designed by someone who studied gaming theory in vegas.  Every time you spend energy points to do a job, it's like pulling a lever on a slot machine. 

What were we talking about again?

I love finding new (to me) blogs too.  It's been far too long since I've ventured out of the comfort of my couple of blogging circles.  And let's not even talk about blogrolls, agreed?

I don't think you're alone in slowing down lately.  So many of the blogs I read seem to have slowed in posting frequency. I don't know if it's the weather, or if everyone has just gotten sucked into twitter and facebook.    

I find writing much easier at some times than others. Sometimes something's going on in my life that I don't want to share, or I'm just plain tired and cranky, and the words don't come easily. Lately I've been trying to write through it. It does help, and it forces me to hone my writing that much more. After all, writing when it's easy doesn't take as much skill.

For me the key to staying motivated is stretching myself. Finding new things to read, new ways to write, new things to write about. Taking on new challenges helps to keep things new and interesting.

That and letting go of my perfectionism. Sometimes good enough is just that. :)

~ Amber

www.strocel.com ( http://www.strocel.com )

You Wrote:  "While I'll never be a great speller, or lose my long awkward-run-on-
sentence-write-like-I-talk structure, I still posess a great desire to
put my fingers to the keyboard.  I think I may just be this much closer
to finding my writing mojo again."

So here are my two cents (or five - we'll see...), though you didn't necessarily ask - hope you don't mind, lol...  ; )

When I have writer's block, it's usually because there are simply too many ideas running around in my head, and that intangible place from which we draw our "words" becomes over loaded with seemingly random stuff - which personally leads to my eyeballs staring at the blank screen in what definitely does feel much like some kind of weird hypnosis, as you described it. 

But you said something incredibly important that I would very much like to see you  embrace as a part of your particular brand of writing mojo, and that's the part about not being a great speller and about having a "run-on-sentence-write-like-I-talk structure."

For one thing, I thank the universe every day I write for spell check!  Having grown up in so many different places during grade school, simultaneously during a time when something called DISTAR was being taught - which was all about teaching kids to spell things like they sound - I was one seriously confused little (bad) speller!  For example, when I moved from southern Louisiana to upstate New York in 4th grade, I thought "Government" sounded like "Gubmint," and I spelled so!  

So there's that - which is really nothing to worry about - though I know you do, because I sure do, and I hate the thought that as I send out email looking for work some random a-hole will presume that my spelling might actually represent my brain as opposed to a non-creative and fast becoming obsolete skill.  ; ) 

But far, far, FAR more importantly, I want to get to your writing voice, which is that piece of you that writes the way you talk.  This is SO incredibly specific to you, and so incredibly special that there is no one else on the planet who possesses your personal writing voice.  Some may be similar, but none are you.  This is the stuff that writing magic is made of, sweet fellow writer-person-in-the-world.  Hang onto it with all of your might.  There are people who strive fruitlessly for decades - literally - who can not ever, ever, ever reach the point where they write so naturally as they speak.  

This is your voice! 

This is your voice.  

Look at it this way:  most of us hate the way we sound on audio tape.  As writers, it makes perfect sense that we may really freak out at the "sound" of our respective and completely unique voices on the page.  Have faith in this fact:  no one else hears your voice the same way you do.  That's both incredibly frightening and incredibly inspiring.

Embrace it anyway. 

Embrace it...anyway...  

No one else has it but you, and that's the stuff!  That's the point.  That's what makes you the writer you are.  End of story. ; )

So....

Next time you're staring at that hypnotic screen, say something out loud to it - and write it down.  Word for word.  Just like that.  Then say something else out loud and write that down. 

Will you feel silly?  Probably.  So what?  Who cares?  The screen doesn't care. We'll never know.  So give it a shot, and eventually you'll discover that you've written quite a bit more than you thought you had to say in the first place.  Because by that point, you will have "rambled" about a bizillion ideas out onto the page that had originally been causing an over loaded clog in the subconscious arteries that are the plumbing from which you draw your writing.  

And voila!  All of a sudden you've got a brainstorm list from which to work! (But whatever you do, don't think about it that way while you're sitting there feeling all awkward and talking out loud to your computer!) 

Yay!  

Keep it going, & let us know what happens.  Personally, I can't wait to see what all you've got holed up in the writing mojo pipeline.  Keep it up!  As a teacher of mine once said, "The secret to writing is writing." 

; )

--Kate

A few things happened lately that left me extra-anxious, and I find that I am having horrid writer's block. It's especially annoying because one of the few things that happened also left me with a lot of time on my hands, and I want to use it to write, but I am so anxious that I can't!

Suzanne Reisman ( http://www.blogher.com/member/suzanne-reisman ), Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender ( http://blogher.org/topic/feminism-gender )
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants ( http://cussandotherrants.com/ )

well shucks and gee wiz!  thanks so much for including me in such a talented group.  like you, reading inspires me to write, and so i am grateful to you for introducing me to a few new gems.  of course, i should be writing.  shiny things and delicious blogs are distracting me.  luckily, i know (as you will know) that if you love to write, it will come eventually, and we all need the occasional break. 

keep doing what you're doing-especially for all of us who might be just joining you now.  we'll wait for that block to pass...but don't take too long.  i can only stand so much teasing.

/deborah

www.peachesandcoconuts.com ( http://www.peachesandcoconuts.com )

Thanks for sharing your finds!  I love it when a new blog opens a door to a whole undiscovered network of writers.  That thrill of reading blogs is amazing. (Dang, my blogroll is about a year untended, should take care of that...)

My writing has slowed lately, and I think it's because it is the beginning of summer.  We forget how programmed our minds are to the traditional academic year. You know best what you're going through, but I'm tempted to say just go to the pool and trust your words will come back.

Deb
www.debontherocks.com ( http://www.debontherocks.com/ )blog
www.3smartgirlz.com ( http://www.3smartgirlz.com/ ) consulting