Writers block is an absolute bugger. Whatever you are trying to write, you get to a certain point and either realise you’ve repeated yourself or that the English language isn’t entirely flexible enough to say exactly what you want to say (And yes, me blaming the language almost certainly is one of those ‘bad workmen always blame their tools’ moments). I’ve tried all sorts – distractions, breaks, planograms, spider diagrams, brainstorms, walks in the park, music, no music, radio, no radio, silence, cooking, fire alarms (unintentionally), reorganising, rereading, rewriting out, writing other things… You get the idea.
I’ve run out of distractions so it looks like I just have to write. The thing that annoys me is that in this thing I’m writing (I get a little bit paranoid about giving too much away) I know that three years ago (yes, I write slowly — no, it’s not a haiku, its a bit longer), this particular point got me stuck for August through November. The main problem – as you can probably guess by the fact I’m revisiting the same issue – is that I was never really happy with the fudge of the situation which I’d acheived on the previous attempt.
So I’m back in a weirdly similar position after three years. Working on the same (ACCURSED) chapter, playing with the same characters, just before enrollment day, on the evening of the Freshers party in an empty house. OK, the past and future don’t naturally parallel each other much on a deeper level – on the previous occasion, I decided that it was a good idea to get entirely bladdered and then lost in the Freshers party, then drink gin neat out of a mug because I didn’t own any tonic. But a parallel is a parallel, and enough of a parallel to get that doo-doo-doo-doo-dooo moment going in my brain.
All cures for writer’s block welcomed.
