Cintia
asked
Lauren Willig:
Hi, my name is Cintia and I'm from Argentina. Being a writer is what I want the most in this world, nothing makes me happier than writing, but I'm more and more frustrated with each passing day, because I've been blocked for 3 years. And it is not that I have an unfinished story. I have NOTHING AT ALL. A blank page in front of me, that only makes me sadder... Is there a way to overcome this? How do you handle it?
Lauren Willig
Dear Cintia,
The sight of that empty page can be hard to overcome! I've found that the best way to get past it is to give myself license to play, to just put words on the page and free-write and not worry if it's going to turn into anything useful. There may be several false starts, but that gets the words going and my brain moving again. It's when I worry about the words being right, about starting in the right place, making sure I begin as I mean to go on, that the weight of expectation becomes paralyzing. So I would say try, as best you can, to stop worrying about being blocked, and just write something low pressure: it could be something short, something silly, something entirely different from whatever you usually do (poetry, non-fiction). But whatever it is, it will stop that page from being blank and remind you that the words will come when you call them.
The sight of that empty page can be hard to overcome! I've found that the best way to get past it is to give myself license to play, to just put words on the page and free-write and not worry if it's going to turn into anything useful. There may be several false starts, but that gets the words going and my brain moving again. It's when I worry about the words being right, about starting in the right place, making sure I begin as I mean to go on, that the weight of expectation becomes paralyzing. So I would say try, as best you can, to stop worrying about being blocked, and just write something low pressure: it could be something short, something silly, something entirely different from whatever you usually do (poetry, non-fiction). But whatever it is, it will stop that page from being blank and remind you that the words will come when you call them.
More Answered Questions
Melissa
asked
Lauren Willig:
I just finished the The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla, loved it! So glad you decided to write this book instead of going right for the final book in the series. Sally deserved her own book, as well as her own duke, and it was lovely to see Turnip again. So here's my question, what ever happened to the big jewel search? Have Colin and Eloise given up on it? Thanks and congrats on your new baby!
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