I Wonder if I Have the WryteStuff
Posted: Friday, October 14, 2011
by Jack H. Schick
I’m totally burned out. I’m convinced that I’ll never have another good idea for an article or story. I’m an empty bucket, drained, scrubbed clean and dried out. I have absolutely no energy, not an ounce of strength left. I am totally bereft of inspirational ideas, and I feel like I’ll never get another one. I’m convinced it’s over, that I’m done, finished.
I’m proud that I’ve been able to pound out something like 80 articles in the past 75 days to post on this website. Most of them I was actually inspired to do. I enjoyed writing them, and reading them when I was done. Some of them were pretty good, if I do say so myself. Some of them got good ratings from the editors. Some attracted a lot of readers. Some inspired comments. Of course, some of them were mediocre and sloppily done, too. I felt obligated to produce an article every day, and it was exhausting. It dried me up.
I tried to convince myself that writing every day was good for me. As someone said once “if you want to be a writer, you have to write every day;” so I did. I might have noticed that I was getting better, but how would I know, really? Words, sentences, paragraphs then pages seemed to just roll off my finger tips. Was it really writing? I might have felt I’d developed a comfortable narrative voice and honed a style. I even started to think that I found a structure that simplified the effort; that it was all becoming instinctive. But I was also noticing uncomfortable phrases or paragraph structures more often. I had to spend a lot more time editing thing to make them sound better, to make them the way I wanted.
Writing every day, I did some articles that equired a lot of research. I did learn a lot of interesting things. I still have a lot of ideas for that type of essay, but, for me, they’re the hardest kind to write. It takes hours and hours to properly dig up the information, organize it then write about it in an interesting way, interjecting some of my own narrative voice. Sometimes I just want to sit down and type. I’m just too tired of it to even try them anymore. I have no enthusiasm for the process. I’m exhausted and turned off to writing anything at all.
So here I sit at the typewriter, with a blank mind, wanting to be a writer but without one damned thing to say. Not only that, I don’t think I’d have the energy or inclination to write it down if I did have an idea. I’m just going to quit, give up trying. Writing every day is no fun at all. It’s all hard work. I’ve been trying to think of something all day and have nothing. I’m used up, empty. I might as well throw down my “pen,” go to bed and try to read what somebody else wrote until I fall asleep….
Wait….Wait a minute! I’m sorry. I’ll have to finish whining some other time. I just got a great idea for story. Boy, I’m really excited about this one. If I can do it right, and I think I know how to, it’s going to be a good one….
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)Dont worry or obligate yourself to writing each day. Writing is a gift and we shouldnt force ourselves into writing to meet a deadline or date. Write what you feel as you feel and you will write in a freedom kind of way instead of controling your writing.
Creativity doesnt resonate with control.
So write freely and when you choose without force that comes from a date on a calender.
Hope this helps.Thanks. Actually, I got an idea for a story and this is it. I'm fine and am workign on several right now. It's an addiction. I can't stop writing articles every day.
You have the 'right stuff' Jack. I knew you couldn't set your pen down for long. You are a writer and doing a great job, by the way, of being the team leader for the Storyteller group. I see a steady stream of emails from you with great assignments. 80 articles in 75 days? That's crazy and an impossible pace to keep. Allow yourself a break when you need it, we'll patiently wait for your next article. :)Always good to hear from you. Thanks. I'm distracted--hunting season is open and I've got those Brittanies out doing their jobs.
I really enjoyed reading this, Jack, you describe burned-out so perfectly it made me smile. So did the ending! And 80 articles in 75 days is flipping amazing!I've done 92 in the past 79 days. Thanks for reading and commenting
Clever to write on not being able to write! Forcing writing is like forcing sleep. Doesn't happen. Better to relax and let it happen naturally. But, we all need a hiatus occasionally from whatever work we do, and writing is work. It just seems like it is something that should somehow just be there whenever we decide to tap it.Thanks for reading and commenting. I think it's the mind that has to be there and alert. The typewriter is like a hammer and chisel to a sclupter. The mind must develop the deseire and inclination to communicate a thought. If one stops thinking, one is dead. Write down your thoughts. They never stop.
Jack, Be careful-that's the times when another great idea is lurking beneath such dispair. It's like when training a horse... every once in a while you need to just let the horse go where THEY want to go and get it out of their systems. Then they behave again-Creative efforts are the same. In the end, Ideas drive you, you don't drive them. Once you realize that simple truth, it all begins to make sense.
Sounds like you nedd a ROAD-TRIP!!Thanks for your concern. I'm fine. It was an idea for a story. I'm not really feeling like that
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