hi guys.
i'm not here to cheer over great lengths on words today. Im having a really bad phase this last few days with writing.. I can't seem to get motivated and i just want to write all the time. I'm finding that my relationship with my boyfriend is suffering lately.. We're only seeing one another 2 days a week and we're so used to seeing one another every day (were living together for 7 months before moving back home to save some more) tension is building and im really not sure if the writing scene is really for me anymore. i get some ideas but two hours later and i've writen up a plot just to find that it doesn't go anywhere - the plot doesn't do anything for me, even when i try and convince myself that it could go somewhere. my characters are too complex and i'm not sure if they are delicate but simple enough for readers to view, imagine and hear. i just don't know right now.. I'm have a bad day at work to top things off!

Some guy came up to me and asked me to re-do a heap of digitizising (locating points on maps- about three dozen of them!) so i'm gaining the biggest headache..

Today's just not my day

Kerrie.

Hey Sweetie,

Kerrie, dont worry. You dont have to be able to write every day. Some days, it just doesnt flow. I know that well right now because I too have been frustrated like crazy at myself right now because its just not coming out right. Its been driving me completely insane and near tears last night when telling Simon. But dont give up! Just because you're having a bad patch does not mean that you arent meant to write. If you love it as much as I know you do, then you are meant to do it, even if only for yourself!

Its also likely that your bad day and your problems with Michael are affecting you ability to write properly right now. You're stressed! If not, then perhaps its the other way around. You're angry/dissappointed in yourself for not being able to write, and its affecting the other areas of your life. Just give it time and dont give up. Bad days happen. Relationships go through ups and downs. And you cant always write, even if you want to. Just be patient with yourself.

Maybe you could try writing some of what you're feeling down. Use it as an activity to get you back into the flow of writing. Write what you feel! Thats something that hit me hard today. You write it as you feel it! Because that way you're writing something you know!

Cheer up

Luv holly xx

please don't worry kerri. Give yourself time to heal and then the writting will follow. I have been there too as you know and I took Lou advice and waited a while and then it all came back. I still have those days so I try to do something else creative. have you tried to write a short story just to keep your mind active with writing and if it is bad just keep writting. I found that reading it hours after, it sounds rooton so I have been leaving it for when I am in a good frame of mind then I can look at it more objectively.talk to ya soon you take care!!!!

Kerrie! You have on the muddly glasses don't you! I thought we had jumped on those darned things!

All I can think to say is, we all have moments in our lives that overshadow both the need to write and how we perceive the things we do manage to get down on paper. They pass and you have a time where you are on top of the world and are so motivated your head spins. Then in those happier times what we thought was utter mumbo jumbo was actually quite good.

I think, as creative people, we need times of light and shadow. It is what we draw upon to make our writing have texture and depth. If our life was all "froth and bubbles" how could we describe a character who has a rough time of it? We would be just making it all up and it would lack credibility and heart.

The best writers and artists have the darkest patches in their lives. It seems to be the way...
Look at Van Gough.... dark dark times - he must have felt like he was drowning in despair.

Try to see these times as something to work with later on. Don't dwell on them though, just don't beat yourself up about not writing. Leave it and come back to it when you are in a brighter state of mind.
There is no rule that says you MUST write all of the time.
So you have a lull and concentrate on you and your boyfriend. There is nothing wrong with that at all. We are not going to beat you upside the head and reprimand you!

Take care, kerrie and try not to worry.

deb

went out and bought myself a copy of Maeve Binchy's "The Glass Lake" lastnight.. If I can't write at the moment I thought I could atleast sit back and read for a bit.. get some ideas curling around in this mind of mine... you know? Maeve has such style! She writes just how you can imagine people thinking and saying things.. like in person- reality. none of this "Then so-&-so walked over to the table and said blah-blah-blah..." The way Maeve does it really drags me in and I'm fascinated with it..

I really have to thank her for getting into another state of mind when i start to read her books!

Thanks for all your support and kind words guys! I really appreciate it!

Kerrie

Kerrie

Ditto what Deb said. Sometimes life just seems to rudely intrude on your programmed writing time! Don't worry about it. Life is there for the living and to me people are the most important things in life.

I read a great quote recently (naturally can't remember who by) saying that alot of people live by their ideals and there beliefs to the detriment of their relationships. But your ideals don't appreciate your support and they can't love you back. Individual people are so much more important than any belief system. I thought that was marvellous. For someone like me who can get very caught up in my 'beliefs' and can get into huge philosophical arguments with my hubby it's all a bit silly when you just think that this person in front of you is more important than anything he or you have to argue about.

I hope all works out for you and your boyfriend. Don't beat yourself up about writing if you need the time to refocus on your frienship with him. And don't forget every bit of living is more excellent fodder for your writing...

Alyson
(blabbering on way too much and making up for a week off the computer ... sorry)

You guys really do say some profound stuff.  You know that?  I love that quote, Alyson, even if you don't remember who said it.  Tolerance is such an important quality and while it's great to have ideals, it's not great to want everyone else to think/feel/act the same way as you do.  Took me a long time to learn that.  How my family ever forgave me after I became an evangelical animal rights activist, I will never know.  But if you love people, you let them be themselves.  Because that's what attracted you to them in the first place. (wish we were born with a manual about love - I'm sure it would help). 

Dear Kerrie. even though you are most likly older than me [I am 13] I would like to say a few things. I know its hard when someone you love has to part from you so try and spend as much time as possible with him.Take some time to just sit down andd explain your situation to him. everything will turn out ok in the end. As for your writing trouble.I know the wonderfull people who have so thoughtfully tried to cheer you up have done a great job.Im glad you got that book to put your mind at ease. Thats taking hold of your troubles by the throught and strangling it,you show great strength of mind but have you tried medatating I know it sounds a bit wierd at first but I find it a lot easier to concentrate on writing plus other things when my heart and head are one. Just try it out. Keep smiling cya Danni

Found the quote and it was from John le Carre - a novellist, isn't that great - I thought it must have been from a philosopher of some sort. In his book "The Constant Gardener" he wrote that ideologies are: "the whores and angels of our striving selves. They have no heart of their own. Man is more important."

I just love him!!! If you are looking to read someone who writes the most original metaphors you could ever hope to see, ones that propel the story and add to characterisation with such subtlety you barely notice his art, John le Carre is a master.

Yay!

Danni, I'm discovering the joys of mediation too and although I know things come in their own time, I kinda wish I'd talked myself into doing this a decade ago.  I'm so much calmer now and things that used to send me spinning just bounce off.  It's really worth getting past the 'weirdness' of it to the benefits.

And I think it's about time I got myself  acquainted with Mr le Carre, Alyson.  What's a good book to start with?

 

"The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" was his first big seller. A really good story. Twists and turns galore!!!

His latest is "The Constant Gardner" which I am loving. They are all British spy storis (with a constant character called George Smiley who is sometimes the lead and sometimes tunrs up on just one page).

He is a great storyteller, with an amazing grasp of language. I am in awe of his style. Wonderful wonderful wonderful popular writer.