The Infamous WB (Writer’s Block)
I had almost forgotten that I had a blog, and after a couple days off work, my mind is already beginning to stagnate. I’m in the home stretch with this month’s project. If this were a baseball game, then we would be at the top of the ninth with all bases loaded. As it stands, I have two more chapters to draft out and then I’m done. One, I’m waiting on receiving the data for and the other one I’ve just been going back and forth for my days off.
It’s a different type of chapter, but the challenge to it is interesting and now that I’m past halfway I feel like I can lift my head and walk proud. I’m going to be getting some feedback soon which is always nerve-wracking, but as long as I’m not ripped to blood shreds, I think I’ll still be able to walk away feeling good about it all. When working on a project that is this long with such a short deadline it ends up consuming everything else. While I’m at work, I think about what I’ll be writing next and when I’m on the bus, I plan out my construction of the next chapter.
Every little piece of information that I have and every spare moment that isn’t filled up with chores or other things I have to do is spent either reading over previous chapters, reading the data for the current or next chapter, or writing.
It’s one of those things which is hard to explain to people who don’t want to write for a living. Yes, it is exhausting, but it can also vindicate you while you write and for very dismal low, there’s an equally high peak which pushes to keep going. While it’s harder for a project that isn’t my vision and isn’t story or beliefs, there have still been those highs to combat those lows. The hard thing about writing is that it’s so subjective and moods matter.
Working as a CSR, I can do my work even if I’m in a bad mood or haven’t had much sleep. I’m just not as happy to do the work. But if a bad mood hits or an inspiration dry spell while you’re writing, it is almost like trying to type with one hand tied behind my back or walking through a dense bog minus those pesky snakes.
I read somewhere that writer’s block is basically when your imaginary friends won’t talk to you and I can understand that. When writing nonfiction however, it’s a bit different. Instead of imaginary friends and characters, it ends up being more along the lines of all the data blurring together in a way that stops me from making a cohesive point or argument. When writing nonfiction, writer’s block becomes an actual block. Still, I find that writer’s block is easier to surpass in nonfiction because all I need to do is go away and then come back later to reread the data. Usually I can pick it up again later.
This entire project has been a very interesting, eye-opening experience and now that the majority of the slog and tight deadlines is past, I feel like I’m loosening up a little bit.