Writer's Blockade

Its this running joke that Fran Lebowitz hasn't written a book of essays in thirty years.  She says that it has gone beyond writer's block and now it's a writer's blockade.  

The thought of that is frightening to me.  I think it's frightening to any writer.  I had an old friend over for drinks last night.  He has one novel out, which he has written a screenplay for and is turning into a graphic novel.  He's sitting down to write his second novel, which is a sequel to the first.  And it's not coming out.  I told him that maybe he's just too close to the material since he hasn't really let it go in the two years since he completed the original novel.

I'm the opposite.  I like to write something and let it go.  I don't think I've ever even thought about writing a sequel to anything I've written.  I'm invested in television, which is possibly several years of several characters' lives.  But the idea of writing something, being done with it, and then going back to these folks is scary.  I don't often have writer's block.  That's not bragging.  That's just saying that I've tried to work around it.  I like to have several projects going on at once.  I don't like to focus on one thing.  If I'm going to procrastinate, I try to procrastinate with another project.

I'm not trying to be some sort of hero here.  I'm not some sort of superstar writer.  I just like to know that if something is stalling, or if I have to put something down, then I can just move to the next thing.  Every project needs a little space.  It's just that I hate the feeling of writer's block.  I couldn't imagine having it for decades.  I also try not to force myself into it.  I try to write every day.  And that could mean a zillion things.

• Reading a book.
• Going for a run.
• Seeing a movie.
• Watching TV.
• Writing.

One of my first mentors as a writing student was the playwright Erik Ehn.  And his advice to me was to make everything writing.  In other words, do everything consciously so that it influences and affects your writing.  Even if you're not doing the physical act.  I have tried to do that ever since I got that advice.  Then I never feel like I'm not doing something productive.  Well, almost never.  I am human after all.  And a writer.  So I feel inadequate about 50 times a day.  For a writer, that qualifies as "almost never."   

Also, I don't give myself the pressure to always write.  Yes, it's wonderful if you've got a writing schedule and you're churning out pages every day.  But one has to live.  That's why we're on this planet, not just to document our lives.  And even though I have made that my life's work and vocation, it doesn't always feel good.  And it's not always there for me.  But that doesn't mean I get writer's block.  I just turn around and come back when the block is clear.  That's the way I have to do it.  Otherwise I would drive myself crazy.

And I'm crazy enough as it is.