Missing Something In My Writing
I have been writing for only a few years and came up with a sub par poem and a a sorry and immediately trashes it
I'm at that block and need that "push" from this writing community. Anyone have any advice or ideas?
I have been writing for only a few years and came up with a sub par poem and a a sorry and immediately trashes it
I'm at that block and need that "push" from this writing community. Anyone have any advice or ideas?
Hey Nicholas, I feel you on that 'block'. It's not fun. Here are a few things I've found personally helpful:
1. Read a bit more and read things that are _completely_ different than your usual fare. I used to never read fantasy but exposing myself to it through friends who love it, one or two novels and even tabletop games led me to have a whole lot of new ideas and enthusiasm for old projects. Pick up a genre or author from a culture or country you've been unexposed to. The same holds true for non-fiction books too: new ideas, new perspectives, new things to work with.
2. Play some simple, low-pressure writing games. Put a whole bunch of words in a hat and draw out two. Write for 10 minutes based on those two words. Do that three times. It's better with friends since you'll likely draw words you don't expect. The most fun I've had writing recently was doing that and having to write something based on "cats" and "old books". Game gets you out of your own head and force you to write something without a lot of stress.
3. Just write. I can't remember who said it—it was some successful author—but the best advice I've seen about writing was along the lines of "I've written when I felt inspired and written when I've not and, looking back, I couldn't tell the difference between the work". If you have an old project kicking around, keep plugging away at it. Some of my friends swear by the "Morning Pages": three handwritten pages of writing first thing in the morning that's just a mind dump—no thinking, no filter, no editing, just bluh all over the page. And then move on with your day. Build a habit and go from there.
4. Focus on a different part of writing for a while. Learn about grammar or structure or myth (for example). They're practical skills and it offers a means of progress that isn't just "write poems that'll make Whitman blush".
And, more than anything, be fair to yourself. Writing is hard. It's a craft like any other. Apprentices spend years learning how to be a competent mechanic, carpenter or similar. Being a writer isn't so different.