tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4039670737739959567.post4881882211673857440..comments2023-05-11T18:40:10.140+07:00Comments on by David Barron: Dry Spells And The SorcererAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12701186474452272514noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4039670737739959567.post-16029377444941927102011-12-24T08:07:23.310+07:002011-12-24T08:07:23.310+07:00Good call. I read the afterword to "Burglar&#...Good call. I read the afterword to "Burglar's Can't Be Choosers" by Lawrence Block, where he relates a similar dry spell that, once embraced, spawned that series. <br /><br />I'll be back in action sooner or later, then I'll roll into 2012.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12701186474452272514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4039670737739959567.post-47776529207499716202011-12-23T11:44:24.036+07:002011-12-23T11:44:24.036+07:00I'm not sure this is too much of a problem. I ...I'm not sure this is too much of a problem. I think all writers go through these dry spells, even the most prolific. You should probably read Lawrence Block's TELLING LIES FOR FUN AND PROFIT. Or rather -- you should listen to him read it. At any rate, he has a couple chapters on dry spells and writer's block and creative fatigue that are very interesting. The hardest part of these periods, he says, is accepting them for what they are -- part of the writing process. <br /><br />Maybe the best thing to do is call a halt to all effort and just take time off. Set a date when you're going to get back to work, and on that day, sit down and start writing. Start with a page a day for a week. Then two pages a day for a week. And slowly, week by week, build up to where you're comfortable again.<br /><br />That's a little trick I learned in Break Writer's Block Now! by Jerry Mundis.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4039670737739959567.post-89965130985824353222011-12-22T06:39:12.963+07:002011-12-22T06:39:12.963+07:00In poetic truth: it's all the OTHER single par...In poetic truth: it's all the OTHER single paragraphs that keep appearing, that keep the first, second, and third single paragraph from completion. This is the literary equivalent of claiming 'being a perfectionist' as a weakness.<br /><br />In dismal reality, two reasons: Lack of Focus, brought on by uncertainty & Ass Not In Chair, the all-too-easy ailment. My head may be in the clouds, playing with ideas, but at some point I have to come back to Earth and write them the f*ck down.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12701186474452272514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4039670737739959567.post-35735959844791130012011-12-21T21:52:25.625+07:002011-12-21T21:52:25.625+07:00David, after all this time, how could you reveal a...David, after all this time, how could you reveal anything less than absolute certainty in your strength and guile? That's okay, though: I've been looking for some miserable company, and you're just the sort to share it.<br /><br />I'm curious, though: what's actually keeping you from going from <i>singulum paragrafia</i> (I took artistic license on that one) to <i>narrativa accomplativa</i> (also that one)? I think of all sorts of excuse-reasons, and I'm never sure if they're real reasons or just complex poeticization of "ass NOT in chair." But still, it's important to tell ourselves stories about our storytelling, or else we are only automatons serving the dark overlords of our own creativity.Ben Godbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15450579203940093977noreply@blogger.com