21–30 of 36 posts
I only write about things I have intimate knowledge of. Writing about anything I don't have a deep interest in feels forced and contrived. I follow this saying when writing: I don't write because I want something to say, I write because I have something to say
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a really good point and thank you for the link. I find that I have more stress from concern about whether the writing really is moving forward even when I'm putting words on the page - i.e. will the words I'm writing 'work' - than from writers block. Always at the back of my mind is will these words make the work less cohesive - am I moving backwards? But in general we manage what we measure and we normally h…
I do "versioning" of pieces sometimes when I'm concerned about that. I get to a particular point, decide I like some of what I've said "but it could be better" and copy and paste the entire thing into a new document and edit that, leaving the old version intact just in case I ultimately decide "God, what shite! What on earth was I even thinking???"
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do "versioning" of pieces sometimes when I'm concerned about that. I get to a particular point, decide I like some of what I've said "but it could be better" and copy and paste the entire thing into a new document and edit that, leaving the old version intact just in case I ultimately decide "God, what shite! What on earth was I even thinking???"
For this, git was made. Although, its for coders mainly, I don't see why writers can't use it.
Claim: Writer's block is just a challenge that any profession or activity would face - getting stuck. I get stuck writing software or learning piano or vacuuming my house. Convince me otherwise please. I want to learn what's different about this "Writer's block" that people keep talking about.
I blog and I do freelance writing. I sometimes can't manage to write. I never label it "writer's block." I always have other explanations, such as lack of sleep or health issues. And it never becomes anything I'm anxious about or stuck on the idea of and I never wrestle with it in the way other people talk about.
But I did a lot of therapy when I was younger, so I'm abundantly familiar with how and why I sometimes get what I think of as "The blue screen of death" for some issues. There are issues I have a history of getting really horribly stuck on in a way where trying desperately to fix it is part of the problem, so I'm familiar with that pattern and I just don't let it happen to my writing process.
There's nothing about my writing process that merits getting that stuck in my mind. There's nothing about writing that merits angsting like that and making it into some big, huge deal that, at the moment, the words just won't come. I shrug. I do something else. The words will come again later. No big.
My entire perspective on "writer's block" shifted after surreptitiously stumbling on Jerry Weinberg's book "The fieldstone method". I very rarely now start with a blank page and very rarely beat myself up for "writer's block". In a nutshell, the book describes how the act of writing can be broken down into many stages: sometimes you are collecting "fieldstones" (i.e. research), sometimes you editing, and sometimes yo…
Gerald Weinberg keeps popping up in a lot of recommended reading lists. Currently reading "Are your lights on?" and "Secrets of Consulting". He seems to be a prolific author, and seemingly unknown. By cover art on his books, I assume he self-publishes his books.
My entire perspective on "writer's block" shifted after surreptitiously stumbling on Jerry Weinberg's book "The fieldstone method". I very rarely now start with a blank page and very rarely beat myself up for "writer's block". In a nutshell, the book describes how the act of writing can be broken down into many stages: sometimes you are collecting "fieldstones" (i.e. research), sometimes you editing, and sometimes yo…
My entire perspective on "writer's block" shifted after surreptitiously stumbling on Jerry Weinberg's book "The fieldstone method". I very rarely now start with a blank page and very rarely beat myself up for "writer's block". In a nutshell, the book describes how the act of writing can be broken down into many stages: sometimes you are collecting "fieldstones" (i.e. research), sometimes you editing, and sometimes yo…
My entire perspective on "writer's block" shifted after surreptitiously stumbling on Jerry Weinberg's book "The fieldstone method". I very rarely now start with a blank page and very rarely beat myself up for "writer's block". In a nutshell, the book describes how the act of writing can be broken down into many stages: sometimes you are collecting "fieldstones" (i.e. research), sometimes you editing, and sometimes yo…
Gerald Weinberg keeps popping up in a lot of recommended reading lists. Currently reading "Are your lights on?" and "Secrets of Consulting". He seems to be a prolific author, and seemingly unknown. By cover art on his books, I assume he self-publishes his books.
Absolutely fantastic books by they way.I still recommend Secrets of Consulting to every CS graduate I meet.