"Writer's block": Wall or desert? (part 2)

We all get stuck at times, find our productivity come to a screeching--or sputtering--halt. In THIS previous post, I discussed one of the causes--hitting walls because we hadn't let our intuition guide the process and had taken the story in the wrong direction.

In the comments on that post, I got the sense that walls are not as common as desert times for making us unproductive. So what is this phenomenon--"desert" writer's block?

Image from weathersavvy.com.

Desert

"The word block suggests you are constipated or stuck, when in truth you are empty."

--Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird 178.

"You're blocked because you have nothing to say. Your talent didn't abandon you. If you had something to say, you couldn't stop writing. You can't kill your talent, but you can starve it into a coma through ignorance."

--Robert McKee, Story 73-74

We've all been there--somehow stuck in a place where you're plumb out of ideas. This place feels hot and parched and lifeless--desert-like. Entering a desert usually looks like the following:

- Your characters are faceless mannequins.
- The story setting is a big white box.
- Your characters slump around looking bored.
- The sound loop is your head is chirping crickets, or some really annoying pop song with unintelligible words.
- When you sit down to write, the only word that comes to mind is "waffles."
- You can't blog, tweet or update your Facebook status.
- Your house is exceptionally clean.

Lamott says that you need to accept that these desert times are going to come. In that acceptance, you free yourself to begin filling up again. When the Israelites let the pillar of cloud and fire lead them, God sent them the resources they needed--manna to fell from the sky, water gushed from a rock. The fact was, they couldn't get to the Promised Land on their own--they needed divine intervention. So do we. Call it "the muse," one's "inner light," "intuition," "unconscious mind," "talent" or "the Holy Spirit"--the sources of creativity need freedom and care and feeding.

So how do you allow the empty places to refill? Acceptance, as Lamott says, is a huge piece of it. If you try to push, "Your unconscious can't work when you are breathing down it's neck" (Lamott, 182). She suggests writing 300 words a day culling your memories--just rough journaling to keep you loose. Then seek things that feed you--walks, visits with friends, reading lots of great and terrible books, go to museums and historic sites.

McKee's advice is strikingly similar. He suggests research as a way of filling up in empty times: "No matter how talented, the ignorant cannot write. Talent must be stimulated by facts and ideas. Do research. Feed your talent. Research not only wins the war on cliche, it's the key to victory over fear and its cousin, depression."

Veronica Roth had a great post on this same concept, "Not Writing, or Why Your Brain Is an Ice Cream Maker."

In other news, I just won my very own copy of Lamott's wonderful book from C.A. Marshall. Go check out her fabulous blog!

What things have helped feed you in empty, desert times? What new thing might you try based on Lamott's and McKee's advice?

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Austen fans--giveaway at Read. Write. Repeat.

Lisa Galek, a fellow YA writer, is giving away a copy of the YA historical novel I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend by Cora Harrison over at Read. Write. Repeat. Click HERE to find out more and enter to win.

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"Writer's block": Wall or desert? (part 1)

Every writer has times when s/he can't seem to make forward progress on a project. Writing books everywhere have suggestions about why this is, and how to overcome it.

In my reading, I've seen two common ways to understand low/no productivity: as a wall and as a desert. I'd argue that all creative people will experience BOTH, because the underlying issues are different, even if the end result is the same. For brevity's sake, I'll tackle each in a separate post.

Wall

Sometimes we're happily drafting away, when BANG! we can't move ahead further. Productivity comes to a screeching halt. Hitting a wall usually looks like one of the following:

-a character is in crisis and you can't seem to get him out
-you've given the character something to do and she refuses
-your characters stop speaking to you
-despite your best efforts, the wrong characters keep flirting or fighting or snubbing each other
-you really need character Z in this scene for balance, but he doesn't quite fit
-a minor character keeps upstaging the major ones
-you've heard over and over that you can't give characters what they want
-you're miserable only making the characters miserable

Walls pop up when you stubbornly insist on continuing in the wrong direction. As writers, we serve the story. And sometimes that means binding and gagging one's rational mind and shoving it into a closet.

Instead, make space for your intuition and just try things. That might mean letting characters decide which ones get the biggest roles, and letting them show you what's truly an "in character" action. Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird has a chapter called "Broccoli" that explains how she encourages her intuition. Lamott says, "Writing is about about hypnotizing yourself into believing yourself, getting some work done, then unhypnotizing yourself and going over the material coldly" (114).

For me, walls happen when I follow writing "rules" too rigidly, or let a too simplistic understanding control how I shape scenes. Take for example "tension on every page" and "put your character up a tree and throw rocks at her." The fact of the matter is no published book I've ever read does this. There are always periods of reversal, peace, safety, humor, etc. that release tension periodically. If you have unmitigated misery and difficulty, your reader will begin to disengage, or your serious story will simply become a farce.

Think of the Battle of Helm's Deep in The Two Towers film. Peter Jackson deftly keeps ramping up the tension without wearing us out by putting in Gimli's humor as a pressure release valve.

Consider letting a character have just one crumb of the thing they want in order to keep alive the hunger and motivation for more of this desired thing.

What have your walls looked like? Have you had success letting intuition and "just trying things" move your story from stuck to steaming ahead?

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Giveaway winner!

Thanks to all who entered my drawing to win the easy reader Adventures of the Poodle Posse: Creepy Tails.

I entered your names in random.org and let it choose my lucky winner (so easy; why haven't I used this site sooner??)

Drumroll, please....raditta, taditta, raditta, taditta

And the winner is:

Charity Bradford!

Congratulations, Charity. Please send me your postal address to laurels (dot) leaves (at) gmail (dot) com. I'll make haste to ship it to you!

How was your weekend, friends?

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Sunday fun: shop with zombies

I tend to think of Sears as a place to pick up tools and appliances, though I vaguely remember their fat Christmas catalog we'd pore over when I was little--mostly for the toys, because the clothes were always so...sturdy and boring.

But check this out: Sears is now catering to a growing clientele: ZOMBIES. Check out their "Afterlife. Well spent." shop!

Go. Now. You'll thank me, because this is self-ironizing at its very best.

Think about it--Sears itself is trying to revive its style. How better than well-placed humor? And just in time for Halloween. Now that's great marketing.

Check out the site and tell me, what's your zombie style? Slow, cranky, hungry or dirty? Brain preference? Chilled, runny, boiled or a la mode?

Remember to enter my drawing HERE to win a cute Halloween book for kids.

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Halloween giveaway

Just in time for Halloween, I'll be giving away a copy of Adventures of the Poodle Posse: Creepy Tails.

This adorable easy reader includes an illustrated story about the Poodle Posse's trick-or-treat adventures, plus Halloween activities and recipes--great holiday fun for you and the kids. It's a project I copy edited, written by one of my critique partners, Chrysa Smith. You can learn more about her poodle stories for kids at The Well Bred Book.

To enter the drawing, you must be a follower and comment below. Tweet this post for an extra entry (let me know in your comment that you did so).

I'll announce the winner on Monday, October 25.

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Push to publish (part 2): marketing tidbits

More highlights from the Push to Publish conference I attended last Saturday.

Keynote
"A writer works on a novel for years. She wakes up with it, she goes to bed with it. She loves it like a person, tenderly, even if that person is recalcitrant, a bit of a sh**head, with ideas of his own of where he'd like to go..." (read more HERE). This was part of the reading from literary fiction author Paul Lisicky, from his introduction to his late friend Denise Gess's novel.

He then read an excerpt from his current work in progress, a memoir. I especially appreciated his insights about the importance of literary friendships and how they feed and grow us.

Marketing your work on a budget
With author Kelly Simmons, author and consultant Don Lafferty, author Christine Cavalier and freelance writer Kelly Whalen.

Blogging
This panel discussion included information many of us bloggers already know--that building your platform as a writer and making connections can be done cheaply with a blog.

Several of the panelists were exceedingly gung-ho for the Live Journal platform. I've noticed that those of us on Blogger and the Live Journal crowd don't connect at all and mentioned this to the panelists. They just shrugged, which made me wonder if there's something deeper than a techie issue here. What gives?

Social networks
A few pointers they mentioned are to get involved in the Twitter-verse carefully and see it as a tool for listening and relationship building and building "good karma" by tooting others' horns.

Facebook is the number two source of social interaction online after e-mail, and a powerful tool for marketing if used appropriately. Set up a separate author page with minimal personal info on it to protect your family, and recheck the privacy settings often to keep up that wall between your private and public life. Don't create a fan page for your work before you are published; it looks presumptuous and very amateur. Instead, join communities that have an affinity with your work (same genre, topics you tackle, similar aesthetic), build relationships there, LISTEN and engage in conversations.

Your goal in social networking is to seek target connection and engage. The panelists mentioned using a Google alerts and software like Tweetdeck to trawl the Internet for you and find places where you can join conversations tied to your work and your passions.

The panelists also recommended being active on a book review community site such as Goodreads, Library Thing or Shelfari. These sites will help you know your audience well and will become a place to find eager readers when your book comes out.

Creative marketing
Take care when trying to "think outside the box" with marketing. Going to bookstores and stuffing your bookmarks into books by other authors in your genre is NOT going to win you points with the bookstore staff. They'll pull them and toss them. Instead, ask to place bookmarks at the register, let them know you're available to do readings or workshops. Be professional, not obnoxious.

However, you can and should be creative in thinking about what places your potential readers might be and put yourself there. If you write fiction about a knitting club, for example, consider getting a table at fiber arts shows and selling your book there. Write MG about a kid with autism? Get a table for your book at conferences for special education teachers and for parents of special needs kids. Try to connect with those interested in your subject matter where they would naturally go. Your presence and your book will be a boon to them.

This session was an information-packed treasure trove for sure!

Tell me your thoughts about using online tools--the good, the bad, the ugly. Any favorite tips you'd like to share?

Why aren't we in the Blogger universe connecting with the Live Journal folks? How could that change?

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