Annie's Ideas for Getting Unstuck

Brenda Novak’s 5th Annual On-line Auction for Diabetes Research began Friday and will run through the month. Items up for auction include books by many of your favorite authors, treats, jewelry, once in a lifetime experiences, critiques by top agents, editors and writers, and some wonderful gift baskets—including mine, The Chocolate Lover’s Gift Basket. Please stop by the site and take a look around.



If you’re dealing with writer’s block, or just feeling depressed about writing in general, how do you get started again without adding to the stress you already feel? Maybe what you need to do is something other than writing. (Like bidding on the Chocolate Lover's gift basket. Hint. Hint.)

My friend Annie is not only a grammar whiz, she’s also a very talented artist and poet who never seems to be stuck for ideas or inspiration. Or so I thought. She laughed when I told her it seemed as though the creative muses lived in her studio.

“I get stuck all the time,” she said. “I just know what to do to get unstuck.”

So here are Annie’s Ideas for Getting Unstuck. Maybe one of them will work for you.

1. Listen to music. Get up and dance.
2. Cook. Try a new recipe or indulge in comfort food: mac and cheese, brownies, chocolate chip cookies.
3. Read non-fiction.
4. Walk through a museum or art gallery.
5. Walk around your neighborhood and take pictures.
6. Draw on the sidewalk or driveway with chalk.
7. Cut pictures from a magazine and make a collage.
8. Prowl around Wikipedia
9. Choose five words at random from the dictionary and use them in a naughty poem.
10. Walk the dog.
11. Baby sit a friend’s kids.
12. Make playdoh and then sculpt with it.
13. Take a long, hot shower. Or a short cold one.
14. Have sex.

What do you do when you're stuck?

The Dreaded Writer's Block...

By Lonnie Cruse

I can’t speak for all writers, but for me, when the so-called "writer’s block" hits it’s nearly always caused by . . . me. By my own insecurities. But why?

Well, to begin with, I’m part “outliner” (using 3 X 5 index cards to plot out the story line) and part “fly by the seat of my jammies” writer, writing whatever comes to me. If/when I leave the index cards and take off into unplotted territory, I often hit a wall, wondering where to go next with the story. When that happens, instead of sitting down with my character, trying to figure out what he or she would do next, I often avoid writing all together, suddenly getting very busy with household chores or letting outside influences drag me away from the computer. I’ve let days go by without touching my work-in-progress because I was afraid I couldn’t think of anything to write, if I sat down to try. Which, of course, makes the problem worse.

Sometimes it’s a confidence problem, as in, can I really write and finish another mystery manuscript? Will anyone want to read it? What if I can’t write it? That shuts me down as well.

Or, worse yet, I sense a problem with the manuscript (or my critique group does) and I’m not sure I can fix it. So I avoid writing all together.

One advice seasoned writers give to the rest of us in the writing world is to write something every single day. Even if it’s just a few words. Write something. (No, e-mail and grocery lists don’t count.) But write a few words, even if they stink. Even if you have to delete them later on or re-write them. Just write it. When you go back, you might even discover that it’s pretty good!

For me, the most important lesson I’ve learned is not to let myself avoid the computer for a whole day if at all possible or get too caught up in other things to write. So I’m learning to do the “little bit of writing every day” thing. I’m setting the clock and getting up earlier (before the world can interfere) and writing a few pages. That way, if life does interfere, so what? I’m already done writing for the day. And I don’t get caught up surfing the Internet, researching future books, or promoting those already in print, or answering e-mail first. (Which seems to suck the life out of my writing, because I’m tired when I’m done with those jobs.)

Next, I’ve given myself permission to write chapters that really stink, not trying to “fix” them right then, but making notes toward that end in the re-write. And I’m taking it a page at a time, not panicking at the first sign of lack of direction. Asking myself what could I do with my character, IF I had the courage. Then doing it.

But for me, the “writing a little bit every day, no matter what,” is key. And it really doesn’t have to be on the computer. Pen (or pencil) and paper is fine. Or dictating into a small recorder. Whatever works. Point is, IF you’re blocked, don’t run away from it, sit down with your computer and your character and work it out. Figure out what’s stopping you, what scares you. Then tackle it. And good luck!

STICKY NOTES

By Lonnie Cruse

I’ve been working on the fifth in my Metropolis Mystery Series in fits and starts. Mostly fits. More on that in a later blog, but it seemed as if I kept butting my head against my personal writing wall because of ideas, problems, questions, etc that often attack me when I’m typing, slowing down the flow of words, and sometimes shutting it off completely.

I remembered hearing about writing programs that had little computerized Sticky Notes the author could use in order to keep up with ideas or problems. I thought about getting that program, but realized the Sticky Notes would probably be limited to when I was writing a manuscript. Why not see if there were any free computer Sticky Notes I could download which would sit on my computer’s desktop? I could use such notes not only for my writing but for any personal notes I wanted to keep handy. I’d noticed that the real sticky notes on my real desk had a habit of disappearing, or getting sloshed with coffee or soda, or my hubby would write his own notes on there with mine which meant I couldn’t toss them when I was done, so they cluttered up my desk. Sticky notes on my computer desktop would be perfect.

I did an online search for Sticky Notes, came up with some at: http://www.sticky-notes.net/ and downloaded the free ones. The site has more sophisticated Sticky Notes, some with alarms that sound to remind one of important items. Those cost money, so I stuck with the freebies.

I fiddled around with them and discovered I can make the notes small enough so that only the title shows as a reminder, and they don’t take up much room on my computer desktop. My real desk is, um, well, a teensy bit neater. And I can “lock” the notes so they don’t accidentally get deleted.

The biggest bonus I’ve discovered is how Sticky Notes help me when I’m working on a manuscript. As I said, sometimes I’m typing happily along and I hit my personal writing wall. Maybe I can’t remember the name of a minor character I introduced in chapter three and need to bring back in chapter eighteen. Hey, I can’t remember my own name some days. The sticky note with my character list is right where I need it. Or I realize I need to beef up a character, insert more information about him or her in earlier chapters, or drop a red herring somewhere. But I don’t want to leave the scene I’m working on to go back and search for the perfect spot to slide in that information, so I make a quick note in the current story Sticky to remind me to do it later. Maybe I discover I know zilch about a particular subject I’m including in the current scene (What does the basement of a certain local hotel look like? How long would it take my character to recover from a particular injury? What medical procedures would be used to heal same? Things like that.) so I type a quick note in the story Sticky to remind me to do the research when I’m not deep into writing a scene.

Having the ability to type a quick note into a Sticky on my computer desktop to remind me of what I need to do later has taken the fear of forgetting something important off my shoulders and allowed me to continue typing the scene I need to be in, knowing I can deal with any problems in my work-in-progress at a more convenient time. It helps keep me from getting “blocked.” And if you hang around here, I plan to tackle the subject of “writer’s block” at least from my perspective in a future blog post.


Meanwhile, if you need a quick way to jot down notes and reminders when working, notes that aren’t as likely to get lost on your desk, you might want to try Sticky Notes