Writer's Block

Quite recently, there was a forum discussion on Crimespace about writer's block.

I weighed in with my two cents, of course.

I've often found writer's block, ummm, interesting.

Some of the posters on the forum describe seemingly horrid encounters with writer's block. I'm talking mental anquish and physical pain. I think if I encountered that, I'd just put the pen down and go play judo. Let's face it, writing doesn't pay well enough for "suffering for art."

That said, I try not to be critical of those suffering from writer's block for one simple reason, I don't suffer from it, so I don't understand.

As a journalist, I must produce or I get fired. I have two weekly columns. There is no extension on those, no delays, no sick days. They must be done and done on time. When I worked as a freelancer for a spell, failure to write meant failure to afford beer.

Like a person at any job, there are issues that affect my writing. Sick family members, money problems, arguments with friends, and a myriad of other personal life matters can interfere and just like doctors, plumbers and the guy at the grocery store, they can affect my performance as a writer.

I don't know why, but I've always been able to work around "problems" with my writing quickly. Some people describe writer's block like hitting a wall. When I hit the wall, I never stand there and stare at it.

If it is a passage, I may skip it and come back later. If it is a story I may set it down and work on something else. But I just don't stop writing.

My story "The King" is a very short story, less than a tousand words. It appeared in issue no. 11 of Crimespree Magazine. Buy a subscription.

Anyway, as I said, it is a short story that started on a premise that I found very funny -- Elvis is a live and well and making a decent living as an Elvis impersonator. I never could get the story quite right, and as a consequence, those 800 or so words took about a year to write.

The didn't stop me. They didn't even slow me down. They just didn't get written until they were ready to pop out, but in the meantime, thousands of other words were written.

So writer's block? I don't know. I'll just be thankful it doesn't seem to be a problem for me.