Skip to main content

Sitting on rapture

By July 7, 2010How To, Writing

I just had a good long talk with myself. Because I was driving myself crazy.

  • Staring at the screen.
  • The blank one, that is.
  • Not allowing myself to type even one word.
  • Until I was positive it was The Perfect Word.
  • Therefore, me = paralyzed, inactive, stymied.
  • Not writing.
  • Worrying.
  • Ridiculous.

Just start, I told myself. Maybe not at the beginning…but somewhere in between, at some point along the way.

Because even those car ads that boast ‘0 to 60’ admit that it happens over the course of X number of seconds. It is not instantaneous, it is a progression.

Albeit from static and silence to rapture.

Image credit: valkyrieh116

Join the discussion 8 Comments

  • Jessie Mac says:

    Totally understand, Julie. We’ve all been there and done just that.

    If you can’t start where you left off, start somewhere else. If not, this phase will pass. Well, that’s what I tell myself.

    Don’t give up whatever you do.

    • Julie Roads says:

      “Give up”???? – I have no earthly idea what those words even mean!!!

    • Ari Herzog says:

      Not give up? Of course she should give up. If the words have to be forced out, they’re not worth saying in the first place. Take a walk, give it a few days, come back; and the words will be there waiting to be expressed.

  • Kelly Diels says:

    oh you’re sitting on *something*.

    Rapture. Your phrasing is delicious.

  • Ah yes. Getting Started Syndrome.

    Lucky for me, most of the stuff I write at work is out of an interview (journalistic stories). So when I’m faced with GSS I start typing my notes. Sometimes over and over. Usually, I find the starting point for the writing (if not the story)in there.

    If I don’t find it, I take a walk and pretend to talk on my cell phone so I can talk out loud to myself without people thinking I’m nuts.

    One of the best bits of advice I learned in J school was to start in the middle, that trying to write the lede first is almost always torture. I follow that most of the time. Maybe with copywriting, vs news stories, it’s different.

    Regardless: I feel your pain. Hopefully blogging about the stuck got you unstuck.

  • Andi says:

    Writers block is so scary! But usually if I watch a movie or read a book that inspires me, then I can start writing again. :)

  • Julie Roads says:

    Writer’s block? Who said anything about writer’s block? I don’t believe in writer’s block!

  • Alisa Bowman says:

    When I do that, I usually need to take a break and go for a walk. Then during the walk a line or two comes to me and that’s all I need to get my ass in gear. But lately it’s been so stinking hot. It’s killing me. I don’t want to walk. But I just took a shower and it seemed to have the same effect.

Leave a Reply to Julie Roads Cancel Reply