#IWSG: Is This Writer’s Block?

~ J.S. Pailly

Hello, friends!  Welcome to this month’s meeting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group, a blog hop created by Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosted this month by PJ Colando, Kim Lajevardi, Gwen Gardner, Pat Garcia, and Natalie Aguirre.  To learn more about this group and to see a list of participating blogs, click here!

Last month, I wrote a post about how very ready I was to get back to writing.  I had big plans.  Big hopes and dreams.  Due to circumstances beyond my control, I’d been on a bit of a creative dry spell, but as soon as those circumstances stopped being so totally out of control, I was eager to get back to writing.  And then… nothing.  My muse, it seemed, was not going to help me.

When I first started transitioning from writing as a hobby to writing as a job, I got some sage advice from a more experienced writer friend: however long you think it will take to do something, double it.  That’s how long it will actually take.  I have found that rule of thumb holds up well.  On a few occasions, I’ve taken on a project that turned out to be easier and quicker than expected.  But that’s rare.  In most cases, things really do take twice as long as I expect them to—sometimes more than twice as long.

And that rule of thumb extends to recovery time as well.  I don’t have writer’s block.  I just need rest (and my muse knows it).  So instead of writing, I’ve been recharging my creative batteries.  I’ve been re-reading favorite books and re-watching favorite movies.  I’ve been trying to reconnect with the stories that made me want to be a writer in the first place.

So recovery is taking a little longer than I expected, and that shouldn’t be a surprise.  I still have big plans.  I still have big hopes and dreams.  They’ll just have to wait a little bit longer.

20 thoughts on “#IWSG: Is This Writer’s Block?”

  2. I remember a friend of mine telling me how long it took to recover from any form of trauma or grief (this was in relation to dating) and it horrified me. Long story short, she was about right, and if I’d accepted what she told me, I could’ve used the time a whole lot better. Sounds like you’ve got great plans for your rest and recovery time. Wise man.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. I like the idea of it being recovery time rather than writer’s block. I’ve been struggling with the lack of focus and ability myself so I understand the place you’re in. I hope your muse gets back to talking to you soon.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  5. It’s always after I’ve rested, when I’m feeling recharged and the words are pouring out quicker than I can write/type them, that I realize that rest was what I needed all along! Sometimes we can be stubborn in accepting that at first, but best of luck to ya in getting all the rest and recovery you need!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. There’s a lot to be said for re-connecting with why we love this genre so much and want to add to it. I actually find it helps to read some of the classic stuff that really wasn’t that well written, but was so imaginative it didn’t matter. Along those lines, I recently went back and read one of the Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan novels I missed as a kid, after discovering a lot of that material is now on Gutenberg.

    Best of luck on the recovery!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. One caveat to reading stuff this old is it can really show its age in terms of gender and race stereotypes. It’s been too long for me to remember, but the setting of the Mars books might muffle that more than in Burroughs’ other material. The good part is few do the guided daydream as well as he does.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. With older stuff, I kind of know what I’m getting into. I may roll my eyes when it happens, but I’m usually not surprised by it. The only author who really caught me off guard was H.P. Lovecraft. Even with an older writer, I was not expecting that level of racism.

        Liked by 1 person

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.