I'm not altogether sure there is such a thing as writer's block. In my limited experience, I have found that the only thing that blocks me from writing is the lack of motivation, inspiration, time, technology or sleep. Oh, and the presence of procrastination. While I was updating my website with some photos and information, I noticed what a lousy job I was doing with this blog.
There are no excuses for a writer not to write, except, of course, the reasons I listed above. There are many acceptable reasons for not publishing, not selling, not marketing and not finishing a manuscript, a poem or an article. Writing for me must be treated like medicine for a terminal disease. If I don't take the minimum dosage, the disease overtakes me... I get lazy. I lose my creativity. I forget some of the ideas I have (I’ve since learned to write them down).
My current dilemma has been this: I started my latest novel six months ago. Easily wrote the character descriptions, an outline and the first 5,000 words. Then, I stopped cold. The reason I stopped was because I somehow became the subject matter. The story is total fiction; however, it is based on the concept of dealing with suicidal ideation. I became the main character and fell into her same trap. I had to stop writing. In the last few months, I've developed several other stories that I've wanted to write, but I kept telling myself that I had to finish the other one first.
Guess what? There are no rules. And there are no excuses. I started two other books. One in my customary genre, and one in a new venture (murder mystery), and by so doing, I was able to extract myself from the main character in the current book. Now, I'm juggling three.
Keep your eyes open for:
Voices from the Ledge
Backfired
(A Book to be Names Later)
Happy Reading.