I'm Guest Posting Today!

One of my critique partners, Sheryl Hart, has graciously asked me to do a guest post today over at her blog, My Written Art. She's taught me quite a few things about the art of writing, so head on over and add her blog to the list of those you follow.

Mental Blocks and the Insecure Writer

Today is April's contribution to Alex Cavanaugh's Insecure Writers Support Group.






What makes me most insecure as a writer this month? Getting stuck in a scene or chapter and not having a clue how to get past the problem. In fact, it happened to me two weeks ago. I needed to rewrite a chapter using a different POV and the difficulties in delivering all the necessary information to the reader in this new format were kicking my butt. I sat and thought about it for a long while and piddled around with the words on the page, but nothing happened.

Eventually I did what I always do in these situations. I just sat down and started banging away at the keyboard. I don’t bother trying to reason my way out of the mess. I just try things. Randomly, if need be. Moving sections around, adding stuff here, taking stuff out there. Rewriting sentences over and over again until I’m sure I’ve tried all possible permutations. A brute force approach. Just hammering away at the WIP for days (or weeks) until I finally hit upon the right answer (usually by accident) and then everything falls into place and the world is right once again.

So far this technique has never failed me – assuming I don’t stop until I’ve solved the problem. But hammering away at your WIP based on a blind faith that there must be a solution and that you will find it is a surefire way to feed your insecurities. Especially after a week or two.

Just so you know. I solved my problem about three days ago, so my sleep patterns are back to normal.