I have a sneaky suspicion about Writer’s Block. I don’t
think it exists!
Now, in saying that, I do believe there is such a phenomenon
as Writer’s Stop. This occurs when our subconscious discovers we are completely
off course and writing in a tangent that is not conducive to the full potential
expression of our story and thus stops us dead in our tracks until we figure it
out.
A subsect of the Writer’s Stop is a condition called Writer’s
Drop. This happens when our self-confidence plummets to such abysmal levels
that we have a hard time convincing ourselves we should be writing at all. This
is where all the existential questions about why on earth we picked this career
path to begin with come careening to a head. One might experience this after
their first handful of rejections, or after a negative review, for example. But
at its heart, Writer’s Drop is just another facet, another face if you will, of
Writer’s Stop, but in this instance it’s our perspective that’s off course.
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| Marissa Campbell all Zen in Bahamas |
As a yoga instructor, I often talked about what I saw as the
keys to happiness. Two of those mystical mysteries were awareness and
perspective. With Writer’s Stop, we have to be aware that we have in fact
stopped writing—we can become pretty darn good at creating excuses and making
ourselves seem too busy, all in an effort to avoid the discomfort of facing the
hard truth. We have to be aware of our avoidance tactics and acknowledge that
we are in fact procrastinating.
Once we become aware of what we’re doing, we can try to
understand the root cause behind our Writer’s Stop. Perhaps we have reached a
point in our stories where we are bored with it, hence the reader will be too. Or
maybe we’ve lost the main thread of our plot. We might even be trying to force
a character into doing something that is in fact out of character for them. Or
worse, we could be writing the wrong story—maybe we really want to write
steampunk mysteries, but are forcing ourselves to try and slog through a
paranormal romance.
Writer’s Stop is not a bad thing. It’s a natural part of the
process, and it presents each of us with a wonderful opportunity to make our
stories better. I learned this lesson the hard way.
After taking part in NaNoWriMo this past year, I made my
quota and rocked my word count, however, the furious pace was devastating to my
story. I’ve since learned that my writing process involves a lot of reflection
and rumination (R&R), followed by joyful spurts of writing. Each ‘stop’ in
my writer’s journey is an opportunity to reflect and ruminate on the story and
determine where I go from there. As one might expect, I’m a pantser. With this crazy
process, I need the R&R to help keep my story on track. With NaNoWriMo, I
didn’t have time for R&R and had to force the story and push my way through
the red-light-alarm-bell-ringing-full-train-whistle-jam-on-the-breaks-for-the-love-of-God-woman
stops. Thus, out of the fifty thousand words I had to complete in thirty days,
once the month was up, I ended up cutting almost forty thousand of them. I had
to start over from scratch. Writer’s Stop is a gift, an opportunity to pause,
breathe, look around, and determine what our story needs to make it stronger.
In the case of Writer’s Drop, perspective is the missing
link. We can’t always change a situation (the negative review won’t go away,
especially now, thanks to the Energizer internet bunny) but we can change how
we perceive the situation. Rather than it being the catalyst that drops us into
the deepest depths of despair, we can use it as force for good, catapulting us
into a mission to prove the review wrong!
After all, a negative review seems to scream, “Just stop
writing for heaven’s sake. Can’t you see you suck?”
Now if you’re anything like me, you don’t take kindly to
people telling you what you can or cannot do. Avelynn (the heroine in my debut
historical fiction, AVELYNN, releasing September 8th) is exactly
like me in this regards. Rather than take society’s constraints and abide them,
she fights, tooth and nail, against their hold.
If someone tells me I can’t do something, I will go out of
my way to prove them wrong. I don’t mean to say that if someone tells me I
can’t jump off a cliff, that I’m going to do the opposite, but if it’s something
I feel passionate about, something that I believe firmly in, like my writing,
or my family, or my friends, I may just have to put my foot down and dig in my
heels. I firmly believe we can accomplish anything we set our minds to, and
rising above negativity (in all its forms) is just one of them. A life of
passion is not without struggle. Many people will try and dampen our spirit and
douse our flame, but if we feel strongly about what we do, if we love and
believe in our words and our stories, then those rejections and negative
reviews are just white noise against the backdrop of our dancing feet beating a
thrilling tattoo as we march to the sound of our own vibrant drums.
Awareness and perspective are essential to turning something
negative on its head. Once you can do that, there’s only one thing left: make a
choice. Choose to rise above the self-doubt. Choose to push through adversity
and follow your dreams. Choose to remain true to your passions. Soon you’ll be
living Writer’s Rock, whereby you rock this whole writing thing and remain
steadfast and firm in your resolve to knock this novel/short
story/screenplay/memoir/poem out of the park! Swing for the fences, my friends.
Rock on!
In gratitude,
Marissa xo
