Hi, I wonder whether I could bother you with a question, I sent one in yesterday and was grateful for the replies, thing is I'm still really bothered by my apathy towards writing. My husband is very supportive, I dream all the time of being a successful writer, I don't have a problem with ideas, or plots, in fact when I do write I feel so elated I can fly. So whats wrong with me? I've talked to people that are not writers and they suggest lack of confidence etc, but they are not writers. Does anyone have the whole book in their heads, characters, everything, I can even draw my characters, I know what they look like. So why can't I move forwards? If writing is not for me why am I so miserable not writing?

in fact when I do write I feel so elated I can fly.......why am I so miserable not writing?

Anne Enright, last year's Man Booker prize winner, said (to greatly paraphrase) it is important to work from the page as only then will it develope into a novel. If it remains in your head, it's not a novel, and also not to be afraid of failure.
So what is stopping you from starting to write? Very simply because it is so much easier to procrastinate than to actually do it. Because while it's locked away inside your mind, it's perfect. But as soon as you put it down into words it's corrupted, second best, opening you up to failure.
Or, I could be wrong.
I think you need to be strict with yourself and set an hour or two aside when you can - give up your favorite TV programme if necessary - and write. Don't worry about what to write, that will come to you once you get started, but just write. After all, you can't edit what's not on the page, and you can't pubish a book that's still in your head.

If all else fails, see if there are any Creative Writing evening classes or writing groups near you where you can get writing exercises to stimulate you into writing.


- NaomiM



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PS. We have the Novel Motivation group for anyone who finds it inspirational to post their daily word count so they can see they are actually making som headway in writing their novel.

Higgins, it sounds to me as if it's not that you're not a writer, but that other things are getting in the way, and strangling your desire to write at birth. In a sense what you're experiencing is procrastination, even though you haven't really started. I blogged about procrastination and not-getting-on-with-what-you'd-sworn-you-most-wanted-to-do here, and you may find that some of the causes I've suggested ring a bell with you. I may say you're not alone; that post has been one of my most responded to and most hit-on posts ever!

Another way of thinking of it is that what's holding you back is fear. You pour your all into it, and some of that all comes from some dark or secret places inside you, and at the very least you spent a year or five doing this and not talking to your spouse or decorating the stairs, and then you're walking out in public and saying, 'This is what I am, my most intimate, secret self (even if you'd swear it's pure fiction) and it's the best of me and the best I can do.' That's an incredibly naked thing to do, and sometimes I'm amazed that any of us can bring ourselves to do it.

There are other fears, of course - some of which I touched on in that blog post. It might help to see if any of them resonate with you.

I think Naomi's suggest of just writing can be a fantastic way to get yourself over all sorts of the blocks which I outlined. It's allowed to be rubbish (have a look at the NaNoWriMo website to get an idea of the reasons why it can work) so the pressure's off. Indeed, it's a necessary part of the process: as Anne Lamott says, shitty first drafts are what writers write, so they can then write good second drafts, and finally terrific third drafts (though there may be fourth, fifth, sixth...).

Emma

Hi Higgins - I have also had many misgivings about my writing. Posting a message on the site does help because people know how you feel and can help.

I too, am a beginner writer - for the last week I haven't attempted any more writing telling myself 'I'm too busy'. However, I went along to my local creative writing group yesterday (you can find your nearest group from the Library), being with other writers helped me to focus and I came home and started on an idea for my short story for a writing competition in February. Needless to say the first draft was terrible, but I still liked the idea. I have amended it seven times since(I haven't done much else today, but I have really enjoyed myself).

Let yourself go and start writing - don't worry about the end result, because you can keep reading and amending your draft until you think you can do no more.

Hi,
I'm not a writer but after 20 years of scribbling I've just published my book online at http://theredword.com
But that shows if I can do then you can do it. I didn't even start with a plot or anything it was just random small tales that
i went back knitted together. The hardest part of any journey is that first step -Confucious. Stop thinking about it just start it.
Does it really matter if it's good or is a Harry Potter. Do it for YOU first. Lose yourself in your words and the freedom will come.
Sometimes too much 'thinking' and trying to get the perfect page results in nothing. Don't dream it, do it.

I am apathetic about writing most of the time, too, unless I've had a set exercise from the CW evening classes I'm currently doing, and then I can be up until 3am in the morning crafting 2000 words. The following week I may fiddle with 50 of them, but not write anything new.
It's a funny old game.


- NaomiM

Oh I can completely empathise with you on this. I have just crawled out from a good 18 months of "block" wherein I would write and then tear up, write and delete.

Having unblocked in the past few weeks I can safely say that my apathy now rests with all the other things in my life.

The advice above is excellent in my view and I agree that you just need to write. There are quite a few of us here in WW who believe in the "shitty first draft" - I found it immensely liberating to realise that the first draft is just that, a draft and not an end product.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Sharon