Curing (and Preventing) Writer's Block (and Prayer Request)

I think that somewhere there is a parasite called Writerpholia blockaea. It feeds on deadlines and ideas in a writer's brain, turning them to mush. It specifically makes its presence felt in November.

But is there no hope? *gasp*

MY FAVORITE WRITER'S BLOCK CURES:

1. Outlining your book ahead of time so that if you get stumped on a particular section you can just quickly end it and get on to another, perhaps more exciting or cool or easy to write, part.

2. Listen to music. I prefer classical, because it sets an emotion that I'm probably missing in my writing. Plus, classical is calming. As much as I like contemporary, it gives me headaches (and I already have a major headache problem)

3. Get off the computer. Seriously, the #1 cause of death of inspiration is staring at a glowing screen for hours without a break. Write a section in your notebook, play an instrument, have a tea party with your sister (or a hot-chocolate party with your brother), just don't turn on the TV. No more glowing screens!

4. Get outside for some fresh air. Aerobic exercising, like a short sprint or dancing, really works for me.

(the following I got from my friend)

5. Write down 12 ideas that might come next in your book. Don't stop, even if the third one sounds really awesome. 12 seemed an awful lot for me, so I shortened it to seven. It still worked. And don't not write down an idea, even if it sounds crazy. I wasn't going to write down one of the ideas, because it sounded very cliche, but it ended up that idea was the one I used (combined with another one).

6. Ask yourself 'What would happen if...'. Again, let your mind wander, and don't discard the crazy ideas.

7. At least look at the part that you left off writing. A lot of times, I think I have writer's block because I haven't had any new brainstorms. Actually, if I can just look over the chapter that I got stuck on, I get inspired a lot of times.

8. Pray. It works better then anything! And also read your Bible. If you're working on a book that has a revolution against an evil king, read about Gideon or maybe David. If you're writing about a good king that's fighting down an evil revolution, read about David and his rebellious son. If you're writing an allegory, obviously read all over the Bible!

These next two are on prevention.

9. Don't skip writing; get yourself to at least read over the chapter you're working on once a day. I suppose sometimes it can't be helped, but when you skip when you could have written (even just a paragraph) you start finding more excuses. Stuff like, 'Well, I didn't write yesterday, so it wouldn't hurt to skip today, too," or "This hasn't been the longest period of time I didn't write, and it won't be until a week! I'm doing fine," can be easier to listen to if you haven't gotten yourself on a writing roll.

10. Keep it sloppy, especially if you're on your first draft. First drafts are supposed to be messy. If they aren't there's something wrong! If you're stuck on a short few sentences that are so boring you don't know what to write, just go ahead and mess them up. You can go back later and fix them.

Finally, a post that I wrote about this kind of thing a while ago.

It's so often that you hear someone tell you to keep on going if you find yourself in a writing rut. If a sentence, paragraph, whole chapter, etc. seems awkward, just don't worry about it and move on. This has been repeated so often that you (or I, at least) assume that this advice goes for all times.

But does it?

I have found more than once that deleting whole pages of awkward writing has taken care of the 'bothered perfectionist writer's block'. But does that mean that once I write a single awkward word, I can feel free to go heavy on the backspace button?

Not necessarily. In fact, not at all!

My theory is that the backspace method works if your plot is getting awkward. If your prose is getting awkward, then I would agree with popular advice (if you're on the 1st draft)--work past it, and then sweat about it.

Awkward prose, at the most, will just keep on nagging your mind that you have to go back and fix it. But that's okay. You can fix it later, and in the meantime make sure it doesn't get in the way of your writing. However, awkward plot not only nags you, but it will most likely begin to lead the rest of your book into the mire of awkwardness.

What are your thoughts?

And lastly, my prayer request. Remember those headaches I had in the spring? Well, they're back. I really thought they had gone away for good. But now I've been taking ibuprofen for about two weeks now...and they're not going away. I really hope nothing is wrong. I'm wondering if it's stress.

On top of that, my wrists are...*sigh*...really reminding me that it's a fallen world we live in. My left hand especially is really hurting on top close to my thumb. My carpal tunnel syndrome is getting worse and worse as I continue to do schoolwork, and I can't be taking little orange ibuprofen pills forever! I haven't been able to practice piano much because my left hand hurts if I stretch the thumb out. I can still type though. =) What I'm really worried about is my CTS and NaNoWriMo.

Please pray for those two things for me. I would SO appreciate it.

Thanks, and God bless!