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Thread: a moment of pondering


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I know exactly how you feel Ringfacwen, some of my friends can ramble on for ages about nothing and when I do have something to say it's as if nobody can hear me. Mad Smilie I'm actually better at writing stuff down.
I'm not really a writer but i am an artist and I sometimes get a creative block when I just don't feel inspired and nothing I draw/create looks good enough to me.
QueenPippin: What you are writing about is called writers' block and there are more words about it under The Writers' Guild. I also have trouble coming up with something from scratch.

Ringfacwen: Your conversation deficiency or whatever it is called sounds just like mine. I can join in but can't start one and can't keep one going. Even here I more often stop a conversation rather than help it along. But I mean well. Look Around Smilie
Aw, Grondy, but some of the threads you started have gone on for more than ten pages!

As for writers block, you wouldn't be a writer (or an artist) if you had never suffered from it. One of my teachers had a theory for a cure: The creative side of your brain occasionally gets tired from overwork (block), so you need to give it a rest by using the other side of your brain. To do this, you need to do something un-creative, like cleaning, re-organising your desk, check your spelling, clean out your fridge or whatever. Works for me. Big Smile Smilie
I find this site is really good because there are so many topics that I can respond to without having to create my own. It is so much easier to join in than start something. Some days though, I only feel like reading what others have written and so make very few posts, while other days I feel like writing more.

I do a bit of writing too and often get writers block. At the moment, though, I am suffering from something else. The last piece I wrote (Rangers of the North), although it is not perfect by any degree, is in my opinion the best piece I have ever written. I'm not really a writer, but just toy with stories every now and again, and now after writing the Ranger's story, I feel I have reached my own personal pinnacle. Because I don't think I can improve on that story, and am unwilling to write something that is not as good, I feel really reluctant to write anything else.

It's a really wierd feeling, and hopefully one day I'll feel the urge to write again, but at the moment I just cannot draw myself to begin anything. Sad Smilie
Happens all the time, my masterwork (dumb comedy sci-fi novel) has been on hold for the last two years because of this. Though oddly enough, when I was trying to finish my last CD it got worked on quite a bit cos it wasn't what Iwas meant to be doing. Hopefully, when June starts peering around again and I'm meant to be finishing my new CD I'll get some more writing done. I often say nothing in conversations, and in fact say relatively little round here anymore, but I'm always listening, so don't think you can talk about me behind my back, okay? Wink Smilie Nothing wrong with it, it's just some people find it a little creepy when I listen so very intently to what they're saying and then merely reply with a raised eyebrow and vaguely interested "Hmmm?" Try it, it's loads of fun.
Val, I think I know what you're talking about with feeling like you're stuck and so forth. My problem is that I write a chapter and then realise I can't go anywhere else, or that I don't really have much of plot or anything for that matter, just one fab chapter. Sad Smilie

Also, with what you said...
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Some days though, I only feel like reading what others have written and so make very few posts
I always find these really great topics and I really want to say something, but by the time I'll get through the pages upon pages of threadwork, I'll find that the people are so far off topic that I can't really say anything anymore, and then I weep silently in a corner Duck Smilie
Okay, I’ll throw in my two cents worth here also. I’m not a writer, but I’m a musician, and a songwriter. I’ve been writing songs for about 17 years, and I have always found that I seem to go through spurts. Sometimes I’ll go through periods where I’m extremely productive, and things just seem to be flowing out of me effortlessly, and sometimes I go through periods where I just don’t write anything at all. I’ve got tons of friends who are also musicians, and artists, and we have all sat around and discussed this sort of thing from time to time. As others have already stated here, if you are a creative person, you will inevitably suffer from this on occasion no matter what your artistic medium. My advice to you Queen Pippin is to keep at it, stay patient, try not to get frustrated, and don’t try to force something that’s not there. You will always do your best work when you are truly inspired!
Elf Winking Smilie
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I always find these really great topics and I really want to say something, but by the time I'll get through the pages upon pages of threadwork, I'll find that the people are so far off topic that I can't really say anything anymore.
If a thread has gone off topic, QueenPippin, and you wish to reply to an earlier post, use the Quote function. Copy the bit of the post that you are replying to, slip it between the brackets of the quote BBCode, and then make your reply. This way, readers will know what you are talking about (if the quote was from a long way back in the thread, it would also help to mention who posted it and when)

If you have something relevant to say, don't worry about pulling a thread back on topic.
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If you have something relevant to say, don't worry about pulling a thread back on topic.
Yes, QueenPippin please don't weep, but pull us back with the old statement quoted and your new comment, because there are a lot of new people who will want to add their comments and ideas too.

Just because we have previously talked about a subject doesn't mean we have had brought to light the best or final ideas about it. Cool Elf Smilie
Man, you guys are good with the responses, thank you so much!

But, also, back to my comment about being completely blank in the head when you really want to be creative and so forth. My other spurt of pondering includes, why does it exactly happen? Like, is there some sort of all powerful force that thinks it would really really funny to make the creative people stop thinking. Sort of like stealing muses and locking them in boxes? Sorry, I have a very wandering brain, and I tend to question things, so, if anybody has a bit of postThreadID to add the reasoning behind the loss of brain function that is writers block I'd really like to hear your warped and demented ideas.
I think writer's block happens just because you can't force creativity. The best stories, the best music, the best of everything is the way it is because it doesn't read as contrived; it just sort of flows naturally. Inspiration comes in flashes, not in hammerstrokes...and I think because of that, writer's block tends to compound itself - when you don't have an idea and try and force yourself to come up with something good, things just get worse and worse.

It might also have something to do with pressure, conscious or unconscious...the more pressure you're under to come up with something genius, the less likely it is to happen.

I'm not a writer, but I know the same thing happens to me even in like math problems...when I know it'll take some really creative and elegant solution to finish a problem, I'll often just end up sitting there, staring at the paper. Incredibly frustrating...sometimes walking away is really the best thing to do.
Yes, I strongly agree with you, all math should be walked away from immediatley Ha Ha Ha Smilie
Can't really think of anything to say here.....Wink Smilie

Oh yeah, it's good to be into many different things, cos then you can work on one while lacking inspiration on the other. So when I can't write anymore music, I go and write words, when I can write no more words I go and write HTML coding, when I can do no more HTML coding, I go and doodle some electonic piccies for covers, when I can do no more piccies I give up and go to the pub.
So just how many weeks a month do you spend in the Pub then Skwrl? Just kidding. Elf With a Big Grin Smilie

I agree with you, it is best to have other things to do when you get stuck or bored.
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So just how many weeks a month do you spend in the Pub then Skwrl?


About 4ish on average Wink Smilie
My My, somebody must be a favourite patron... Winking Smilie